Friday 29 August: How schools ceased to promote reading for pleasure among pupils

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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746 thoughts on “Friday 29 August: How schools ceased to promote reading for pleasure among pupils”

    1. Good lord. Government lawyers telling the truth.
      The taxpayer dosh for Ophelia's new pony and Tristan's gap yah is now guaranteed.

    2. Unfortunately I think we will find that The 'home office' is no longer a British institution.

      1. I do love warm Indian summer days in September though, and hopefully we will have some of those.

        1. My grandparents always took their summer holidays in Cornwall in September.
          It was the one time of year they could near as dammit guarantee warm, dry weather.

          2. My grandad took his summer holiday in the third week in September. Don't think he went to Cornwall, though. Scarborough more likely.

          3. I'm going to Norfolk. The screaming brats should still be in school – I avoid holidaying out of term time now.

    2. It's raining here now and it looks like rain all day. Excellent for the lawn which was struggling to remain green. (Good morning, btw.)

      1. Green? You mean ….. lawns aren't supposed to look like raffia?
        Good Moaning, Olaf's Relict.

  6. Good morning all, including Geoff. A tough Wordle today.

    Wordle 1,532 6/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie
      Inspired by your comment, I chose a less likely third option! Should have gone with my original idea, then I would have got it in four!
      Wordle 1,532 5/6

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      1. Ask Bozza.
        Good moaning.
        Nice display of English mini-roundabouts in our neighbourhood!

      2. I’m bot sure you can do that. Just the act of buying a second property attracts the additional stamp duty. It’s irrelevant whether or not it is your “main residence” – else everyone would do it. Either way, she is playing fast and loose with the law – the optics are indeed terrible.

        1. The DT reckons that she saved £40k by swapping her name off the Manchester property – sadly I can’t paste the article but I suspect they are right, although it seems a bit more complicated than the headlines suggest?

      1. It is known to have crossed the blood-brain barriers, so yes, I don#t see how it can not have affected people’s brains. There is so much aimed at altering people’s thought patterns, it’s hard to pin particular effects down to one specific cause.
        Josh Stylman is a tech entrepeneur who started looking into propaganda and manipulation – this is an interesting talk with Naomi Wolf:
        https://naomiwolf.substack.com/p/josh-stylman-part-3-the-secrets-behind

      2. Daily seeing the poor quality of driving e.g. delay in pulling away when lights change, or not stopping when they change to red; poor lane discipline; driving way below the speed limit – I failed my first test because I deliberately drove at 27- 28mph in 30 limit – wandering over the road; slowing down when attempting to merge in to traffic from a slip road and more, leads me to believe that reported "brain fog" is real.

      3. I know it's only minor compared to many other side effects.
        But since covid and after I recovered from AF it caused, I have never sneezed so much in all of my life.

    1. Yo Bob3

      Is that the act of using Literature, or the town of Reading

      Reading is a large town in Berkshire, about 40 miles west of London. It's the biggest town in the UK by population and sits where the Rivers Thames and Kennet meet.

      1. Is "the act of using Literature" opening a book in order to read its contents, or standing on thick volumes to reach the top shelf? Lol.

    1. Warning: "He has a tendency to overlook the consequences of his actions." DEI Parole Board#

      Anyhow, he's English, he's served his time.. he's just a lad from Stoke.

    2. What a stupid country we are expected to live in, just because of the scum who have been allowed to invade it and live here.

  13. Responding to Russia

    SIR – Russia has fired missiles at the British Council building in Kyiv, damaging it severely (report, http://telegraph.co.uk , August 28). Is it not time the Government expelled all Russian diplomats in London and closed the Russian Embassy?

    No doubt Moscow would reciprocate, but do we really care? Our leaders need to show some mettle.

    Sandy Pratt
    Storrington, West Sussex

    The British Council is not what you think it is, Sandy. It isn't there for British people.

    1. Sandy is very aptly named – who does he think is among those supplying missiles for Ukraine to use? And in more news apparently those strikes on Kiev also damaged the EU HQ!!

  14. So from Labour's first year in power it now looks like their tax rise strategy is designed to close off all avenues for working class people to ever rise above being working class and where all ambition and aspiration opportunities in the private sector are taxed so as to make going that extra mile for a better life for themselves and family a fools errand through overbearing red tape and punitive taxation.
    While the only opportunities left for working class people are in the public sector where people can only rise to the top by following far left wing ideology as we are all seeing now with the low ability people that end up running our institutions by failing upwards and being anti British.
    We are beginning to resemble an old eastern bloc USSR era country, especially now with the two tier policing and judiciary, rather than an entrepreneurial first world country that Trump is rebuilding in the USA and making them great again.
    How did we all sleep walk into this self inflicted nightmare that has been decades coming?

    1. Apathy. Convenience. Lack of willingness to understand that a very rich parasite class wants to turn us into serfs who own nothing. Lack of willingness to understand that the same group wants to impose one world government, aka international marxism and will do so in any country that doesn't resist it.

      1. 'And if this thing is called apathy, then I don't care about that either!' ?

        Morning BB2 & all.

    3. "…at extra mile for a better life for themselves and family a fools errand through overbearing red tape and punitive taxation. …"

      Yep, spot on. A work force trying is not one dependent on the state. One that sees the value of work and self attainment is one that turns away from the state and looks to itself.

      Labour hate – utterly – effort, merit, achievement, principles. Those see the end of the incompetent, greedy, spiteful Left.

  15. Morning All 🙂😊
    Yesterday our road was like a river in the afternoon storm. This morning it's more gentle but persistent.
    Some schools and parents are doing the right thing with reading. But obviously not all of them. We have regular sessions at our local library for youngsters with reading talents and those who do turn up for the occasion are obviously very good and keen readers.

  16. Ange successfully carries out a Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment by existing in a superposition — simultaneously residing in Brighton & Tameside.

    Ms Rayner is said to have told Tameside Council that her home situated in her constituency continues to be her primary residence.

    Angela Rayner dodged shelling out £40,000 on her coastal flat after saying it was her main place of residence to tax authorities.

    Sir Keir says she acted within International Law.

      1. It's all very similar to watching Animal Park on the BBC. Perhaps they should check on what they are showing the public.

  17. Ange successfully carries out a Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment by existing in a superposition — simultaneously residing in Brighton & Tameside.

    Ms Rayner is said to have told Tameside Council that her home situated in her constituency continues to be her primary residence.

    Angela Rayner dodged shelling out £40,000 on her coastal flat after saying it was her main place of residence to tax authorities.

    Sir Keir says she acted within International Law.

        1. I guess so, yet the other harridan is also in the news regarding avoiding a property tax

          1. It could be referring to them both but the image looks more like Reeves. Each as bad as the other.

    3. I believe that Raynor has avoided a substantial amount of stamp duty by claiming that her £800,000 fornicatorium in Brighton is now her principal residence.

      We may remember that in 'the old days' those wanting a divorce had to prove the adultery of the spouse. This led to staged photographs of a man or a woman in bed with someone who was not his or her spouse. The venue for this charade was usually Brighton.

      The scene in which poor Tony Last has to go through this absurd rigmarole in Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust is poignantly ironic.

      ‘All right then. I’ll ring the bell.’ When the tray had been brought Tony got out of bed and put on his things. ‘So much for my infidelity,’ he said. ‘It is curious to reflect that this will be described in the papers as “intimacy.”’

      1. Shame. You might be able to pick it up from Daily Sceptic comments – David Craig has had his website attacked, his videos cancelled by YTube and warnings from Amazon about his books. His WordPress blog was also targetted and sent out scam emails.

        1. Who is David Craig? If he’s getting all this abuse, he sounds like a man i would like

          1. I used to read his rantings quite regularly but eventually got a bit "snouted out".

            Just had a catch up with his website his morning – "Snouts in the trough" – he's got a lot of books on Amazon on various topics. His website opened at the second attempt – "Bad Gateway" ……. there were some comments on what he said was the last blog on Wednesday. I tried to post a comment on today's message about the email problem and got this response.
            Resource Limit Is Reached
            The website is temporarily unable to service your request as it exceeded resource limit. Please try again later.
            Apache Server at http://www.snouts-in-the-trough.com Port 443

        1. Yes straight away. I'm not he's capable of playing a guitar though. His fingers are in too many pies.

    1. I think I'll be having a word with my immediate family and advising them all to go and live in Australia.

      1. I don't think Australia under Albanese is much better, apart from the weather. Remember how people were treated in the lockdowns?

          1. Ndovu is right, also most folks live on the coasts, interior being too hot unless an Aborigine.

    2. It is well known the Tribunal is just a rubber stamping formality.

      A claimant could blow the Court up whilst graping a ten yr old.. he'd still be granted stay.

    3. I just don't understand this 'breaching of rights to a family life' if a person is deported. It just means his family life will have to be undertaken in his country of origin, not in the UK. He is not being deprived of any rights.

        1. Every government department, every Quango, every 'Charity' is run by 'Radical Lefties'. That's why we're f**ked.

          1. I don't think Farage has considered that, or understands it. His first problem is going to be massive opposition from utterly unaccountable groups.

          2. They need to be getting their plan sorted now. If they form a government they need to hit the ground running.

      2. Oh, but he is being deprived of 'Rights'. His 'right' to massive hand-ouys from us, the UK taxpayers as arranged for him many years ago by a lefty lawyer called Keir Starmer.

        1. It takes years before their preconceived intentions come to light and fruition, these horrible slime bag bastards have been planning what is happening now for decades.
          Same as removing personally own fire arms from the British public. All part of the ongoing plot.
          What's next ?

  26. Jess the Grooming Gang Champion
    12h
    Unless I am missing something, whatever the result, the Government/Home Office loses. If they win the injunction there will be further civil unrest. If they lose, every council will follow the same legal route and the HO will have to find accommodation for thousands.

    Richard
    Jess the Grooming Gang Champion
    12h
    It's definitely much worse for Pixie Cooper and the Home Office, when the Fabian judge finds in their favour tomorrow. It throws establishment versus the people into stark relief.

    1. When the state imposes it's dictat on the public (as there's no chance they'll permit losing) the judiciary will add a clause that any and all force can be used to achieve their aim.

      It's odd. The home office puts no effort into deporting the vermin but fights tooth and nail to keep the criminals in clover. All using our money.

  27. RS
    The Minister for Election Law is registered to vote in three places.
    The former anti-corruption Minister is on trial for corruption.
    The Business Secretary passed himself off as a Solicitor.
    The Housing Minister made her tenants homeless and the Chancellor lied on her CV.

    No wonder the country is in a mess.

    RS
    13m
    Don't forget the science minister who is illiterate.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9171d2d6126c5596d06b7b9588252e71aa4e4abeafa1582e1ba099bd56deaa5a.png

    All require deliberate action to deceive.

    1. And we probably thought the TV programmes Yes Minister and Yes Prime minister were just British humour.

      2. I liked them very much, was a Thatcher fan (still would be). That was anti-Tory days tho, Eddy. Today, somehow all onboard with Starmer/Labour.

      2. The Monarchy is the only government department that doesn't make a loss. While it does, we keep it. When it doesn't, we get rid of it and make the property parkland which you can pay to visit.

    2. Stupid boy Charlie. He probably suffered syphilitic brain damage from his 'teachers' activities in the broom cupboards and dormitories at Gordonstoun.

    3. Deluded old fool. Sooner he croaks the better as far as i am concerned.

      Islamics are not enviromentalists they are destroyers.

      1. The only really prosperous Islamic counties have economies founded almost entirely on oils gas or destroying natural resources.

        How does he square that with his greeny-wokey-cokey?

          1. 'morning Ndovu…I think the direction of UK/European travel has definitely occurred to him, and his advisors.

          2. 'morning Ndovu…I think the direction of UK/European travel has definitely occurred to him, and his advisors.

        2. And who actually developed the machinery that needed oil?
          Or exploited the stuff coming out of the ground?

    4. If he could not defend the Christian faith, he should not have acceded to the Throne. It's a major part of the job description.

      1. We are often shown graphs showing how a politician's popularity has fallen or risen since taking office.

        I should imagine that since becoming King the Idiot King's popularity has fallen even more steeply than Starmer's.

    7. Apparently the CofE cannot excommunicate the Idiot King though it clearly should do so.

      There is still no Archpillock of Canterbury to take the decision so will the Head of State Head /Head of the CofE – the headless chicken, bite off its own head?

      "The Church of England does not have any specific canons regarding how or why a member can be excommunicated, although it has a canon according to which ecclesiastical burial may be refused to someone "declared excommunicate for some grievous and notorious crime and no man to testify to his repentance".

        1. Yes, and the new Pope has declared that a historical wrong has been righted by giving the Chagos Islands to Mauritius when none of the indigenous Chagosians has been returned to the islands.

          The disgraced Welby came unstuck when he meddled in politics. All church leaders should learn from this.

      2. Thing is, he doesn't write his own speeches. He regurgitates what others tell him to, after countless approvals.

        When the coronation was perverted to make him 'defender of all faiths' this country was doomed.

        1. Some faiths are so morally reprehensible that only the truly Idiot King would defend them

    8. muslim must – at all costs – be removed from this country. Ban it, abolish it, forbid it's practice. Suppress it. Eradicate it.

    9. Pillock. What bit of being Supreme Governor of the Church of England doesn't he understand?

  29. On-topic: they told us we should try to read a book a week, but they never told us why.

    1. I've whiffled this one out before, but during the Blair election a BBC reporter was interviewing two 50 something Northern chaps.

      The convo went something like this:

      Reporter: Could I ask how you're voting?
      Bloke: 'Laybuh. Pardy o' t' wer'kin maaan'
      reporter: Is unemployment a big problem here?
      Bloke: Yeah, big problem.
      Reporter; When did you last have a job?
      Bloke: '1983'

      Which was, of course, during a Conservative government. Dumb as rocks, all of them.

    1. That photo shows Cleethorpes.

      The seaside town next door to Grimsby where the football ground is situated.

  34. 411998+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Dt,
    Sherelle Jacobs
    Britain’s voters will never forgive Starmer’s betrayal of our farmers
    If the country rallies behind farmers as they step up protests next month it will raise questions about Labour’s politics of envy

    We are in such a perilous state as a nation shown when "if" the country rallies behind the farmers.

    When we should witness 100% patriotic indigenous support from all those with a digestive system plus the leading fact they have been true and loyal to these Isles since from time immemorial AKA if we have forgotten, forever.

    Seemingly the peoples are hell bent on supporting Reform as a one off shot of success against the
    lab/lib/con political hydra coalition party,criminal stupidity without a safety net in place.

    Surely Ben Habib, Rupert Lowe coming in under the Farmers Food and Freedom Party umbrella as an anti treachery, second shot, safety net party makes for good sound common sense.

  35. What is the difference between Angela Rayner and Meghan Markle?

    A couple of people actually like Meghan Markle.

    1. Good morning everyone, and Phizzee.
      Your observation is worthy of Araminta.
      The Duchess of Montecito worked in television, whereas Ms Rayner preferred to watch TV, eg Little Britain and Cathy Tate.

  36. After yesterday's super eagle, or whatever it's called, back to normal. Not even a single letter correct in the first guess:
    Wordle 1,532 4/6

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  37. 411998+ up ticks,

    Dt,
    starmer faces revolt over ‘needlessly cruel’ treatment of female aides
    Prime Minister under fire after it emerged principal private secretary Nin Pandit is to be replaced

    Should read
    starmer faces revolt over ‘needlessly cruel’ treatment of female elderly also male, is tere going to be a repeat of the winter fuel robbery this coming winter ?

  38. My son is home for a few days. He has (jokingly?) accused me of being “faaaaaarrrrr righhht”.

    I was reminded if the meme – i think Elon posted it back in the day, i’ve seen it several times. It’s a stick man standing on the right, with the caption along the lines of “i haven’t moved” as politics moves more and more left.

    I can picture it but not describe it. I tried looking for it last night as i want to send it to my son. If any of you have it, can you post it please?

        1. Indeed, but it was the best I could copy, others were even worse.
          You can read it if you use the zoom facility.

          2. Well done.
            I believe it was a cartoon that Musk liked and he got it seen more widely, but featuring one of his profile pictures.
            Yours with no Musk is much clearer

      1. Brainwashed at university.
        I'm going to see my younger son next weekend in Switzerland but I'll have to watch my tongue. We fell out a few years ago over Brexit.
        The elder one is somewhat further to the right than I am……..

        1. I know many folk who don't understand why Brexit was necessary. They can't argue for staying chained but are fervently against leaving the hated thing.

          We respect each other despite his being wrong.

    3. Could you ask him why being Right wing is bad?

      After all, it saved Europe from fascist Left dictatorship,
      brought us out of the hated EU
      Recovered America's economy after the depression
      Created wealth and growth throughout every market economy
      Is currently causing Argentina to grow at an incredible rate
      Doesn't bother other countries with wars or conflict.

      The list goes on. Being called Right wing is a badge of honour. It's Leftists who are the demented threat to the world.

      1. There's nothing wrong with 'Left' and 'Right' as far as broad economic policy is concerned. That's easy to understand. It's when the terms are applied to wider social policy that the argument turns nasty.

        If it is your misfortune to be governed by people who don't give a shit for you, their economic ideas are irrelevant. Arguing about terminology is futile.

  40. This might seem a bit strange, but I feel that our politics have turned into something that is being employed in animal welfare management.
    I've just briefly seen the bbc Programme Animal park. They were showing Koala bears and the first baby to have been born in Europe.
    Then talked about the species being under threat in their natural environment due mainly because of the old chestnut wild fires.
    It made me wonder how Koala's had managed to survive for thousands of years before humans started to capture them and decided their futures. If wild fires are happening now, surely they will have been happening for centuries prior to their capture and domestication events.
    They are beautiful animals and I have held them during our time in Oz. But sadly it doesn't stop there does it. Most once 'wild animals' species are behind bars, health checked and fed due to human circumstances. Birds are captured and tagged. Goats Lamas Alpacas you name it are rounded up for the use of.
    All very much like the public.
    Same old story every thing they come into contact with they eff it up.
    I've just seen that the Thia prime minister has been sacked. Sounds like a plan eh.

      1. Interesting but I don't think there were as many 'wildfires' back in the day. I think it might have been mentioned Sos.
        I wish my good old ozzie mate Trevor was still around. He was in charge of birds and reptiles at Adelaide Zoo in the late 70s.
        I could have asked him what he thought on the subject.

        1. Part of that will be precisely because of evolution.

          When one considers how much of the Australian bush/forest vegetation has evolved to require regular fires to regenerate, it suggests wildfires were a regular event, they just weren’t plastered all over the world’s news every time one occurred.
          Modern people think in terms of life-times at most, nature works over millennia.

          1. Regular burns reduce the fuel that can burn, thus reducing the intensity and length of the fire.
            Stoppijg wildfires, as man has been for the last few decades, allows a huge backlog of brush to gather, followed by a catastrophically large fire that kills masses of trees that needn't die, animals and birds, too.
            Basically, man's interference with nature – again.

          2. That was what Trump was trying to say about clearing the undergrowth and he got laughed at.

          5. Regular burns reduce the fuel that can burn, thus reducing the intensity and length of the fire.
            Stoppijg wildfires, as man has been for the last few decades, allows a huge backlog of brush to gather, followed by a catastrophically large fire that kills masses of trees that needn't die, animals and birds, too.
            Basically, man's interference with nature – again.

          6. A few years ago 2016 we had a family holiday in Spain near Javier and shortly before we arrived there, there had been a forest fire. It was found to have been arson and we heard that two German women were being questioned by the police.
            And there are quite a few areas in Oz where decades ago people had set up farming and the local climate had changed as in no rain fall. And the inhabitants had to move on. It’s a huge area that these things will happen.
            I’m not sure if the Keetch families huge sheep farms near Narran lakes are still in production. The joint family ownership was about the size of Hertfordshire.

          7. Arsonists are a real problem here, and surprisingly often it turns out to have been firefighters.

          1. That is not true.
            Lightning causes fires all over the place.
            Poor land management may exacerbate that problem.

          2. Even for the big fires "caused by power lines" in California, the root cause was lightning which took out transformers, utility poles, etc., thus dropping sparking power lines into the undergrowth.

    2. Think koalas mostly eat eucalyptus, maybe those had some kind of disease (which could have been imported).

      1. The eucalyptus makes the Koala's sleepy.
        I'm thinking of getting some because breathing it in can help with sinusitis.
        I planted two trees in the garden where we lived not long after we came back from Oz.

        1. Not sure about that, Eddy -from Google – ‘No, eucalyptus does not make koalas sleepy; the common myth that it does is false. Koalas sleep for long periods, sometimes up to 22 hours a day, because eucalyptus leaves are low in nutrients, high in fiber, and contain toxins that require a large amount of energy to digest. This long resting period is a necessary energy-conserving adaptation to their specialized, low-energy diet, not a “high” from the leaves.’….Anyhow, all my fam on grandfather’s side have deviated septum…Vicks nasal stick inhaler helps, especially at night..good luck x

        2. If that is true, Eddy, I think I am turning into a Koala bear. Lol.

          EDIT: I posted this 5 hours ago, then went upstairs at around midday to sleep for an hour. I've just woken up at 4 pm!!! Aaargh!

    3. When Captain Cook's crew sailed past the coast of Australia they recorded wild fires in their log.

          1. I was at school with his grandson…..his father had shop in Mill Hill village Cook and son.
            😅🤣😂
            only Joe King.
            But Clifford was massive and brought a brief case into school every day filled with saleable sweeties. Mainly chocolate 🍫.

  41. More socialism in action.
    From the DT.
    Nicola Sturgeon uses loophole to avoid higher income tax on £20,000 payment
    Scottish former first minister paid sum in form of company dividend – for the second time this year

      1. I've ccome to expect it. They're all bent and on the take. This stops when we control them.

    5. We can safely assume
      a. They are dim and arrogant enough to rule in the favour of "asylum seekers'" rights trump those of British citizens
      b. They are arrogant enough to deliberately make that ruling so, when trouble kicks off, the government has the excuse to call a national emergency and "clamp down" plus also cancel elections for the foreseeable future.

      1. Everything almost seems geared to get the people angry enough to go out on the streets. One feels that the government would be delighted if people started attacking asylum seekers. What a wonderful distraction from other things!

    6. The Left stack the deck. This is why they've called the pakistani muslim paedophile rape gangs inquiry: to be sure they get the result they want.

    1. I have emailed my county councillor. I would imagine her mail box is practically on fire.

    1. "It's only the objection to the preaching of a very extreme absolutist religion. Watch out for these symptoms. They're not just symptoms of surrender. Very often equanimously offered to you by men of god in other robes, Christian, Jewish and smarmy ecumenical.

      These are the ones that will hold open the gates for the barbarians. For barbarians will never take a city until someone holds open the gates for them. And it is your own preachers that will do it for you. and your own multi-cultural authorities. Resist it while you can."

      Christopher Hitchens.

    1. "If you were working in animal husbandry you couldn't fall for this bs.

      "There's a lot of people who can't move on this. And a lot of people have done the worst thing that you could do, which is to harm children irrevocably. Those people will have to believe that they did the right thing for the rest of their lives.. for their own sanity and for their own self-respect. So they'll still be fighting. And if we don't there's no way back for them and their child.

      They sold their child a Bill of Goods that they can't deliver on. And I'm the one that has to bullied to try and force me to deliver on that. So they are the people that will be keeping this bloody movement going. I'm sorry to say because they've everything to lose. And it's a fight to the death as far as they're concerned."

      Helen Joyce.

    2. "If you were working in animal husbandry you couldn't fall for this bs.

      "There's a lot of people who can't move on this. And a lot of people have done the worst thing that you could do, which is to harm children irrevocably. Those people will have to believe that they did the right thing for the rest of their lives.. for their own sanity and for their own self-respect. So they'll still be fighting. And if we don't there's no way back for them and their child.

      They sold their child a Bill of Goods that they can't deliver on. And I'm the one that has to bullied to try and force me to deliver on that. So they are the people that will be keeping this bloody movement going. I'm sorry to say because they've everything to lose. And it's a fight to the death as far as they're concerned."

      Helen Joyce.

      1. Trouble is it seems that Starmer's government is happy for it to be our culture too.

      1. Good morning, Stig

        I suppose we are all guilty to some extent of what Paul Simon wrote in his song: The Boxer:

        "Still a man hears what he wants to hear
        And disregards the rest."

        1. The 9 out of 10. Where does this come from? Sounds like a fabrication to stir up hatred.

          1. Looking at the Pakistani spokesman, who I believe is/was Iran Khan, I would not be sure it was.
            The HR lawyer has been dealing with it for years.
            They are hardly those who would be keen to put Pakistan as a whole in a bad light.

      3. I saw a documentary about children living under bridges in Pakistan. They might have a different view.

        We already know how women are treated in their culture and also the Bacha Bazi and Bacha Posh sold for sexual favours to old men from parents too poor to support them.

        They are rapine.

  49. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/lefty-mp-calls-for-flags-to-be-removed-as-they-threaten-the-breakdown-of-society/ar-AA1LqS73?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=68b17d089938487d8b4b10f8d6b20de4&ei=11

    There where two comments about this outrageous statement but the other one about the flags has been removed.

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/ghanaian-drug-smuggler-deported-three-times-but-now-court-says-he-can-stay/ar-AA1Lqsm9?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=68b17d089938487d8b4b10f8d6b20de4&ei=125

    Perhaps this is one of the many reasons our long established culture is being destroyed.

  50. Some of the SSRI drugs and some other psychiatric drugs might be contributing to violence,’ RFK Jr added referring to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)

    ‘Many of them have black-box warnings that warn of suicidal ideation and homicidal ideation. So we can’t exclude those as a culprit, and those are the kind of studies we are doing.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15043271/minneapolis-shooter-robin-westman-transgender-manifesto-school.html

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0b73edda996a46643deaff8732d236add3ea0392c77c9bd58503b8ea3dbe4bce.jpg

    1. It must be apparent to anyone with a brain that 'Transgender' people (i.e. those who believe that they were born the wrong sex) have a mental illness, not a physical one. If they are deluded as to their sexual identity, it should come as no surprise that they may have other mental issues.

      1. Not helped by mind altering drugs that interfere with seratonin and melatonin in the brain.

    2. From bitter personal experience I can confirm that Pip, getting the RIGHT SSRI is very hit and miss
      When prescribed Prozac for acute clinical depression I rapidly became prone to suicidal thoughts and literally murderous rages a real danger to myself and others
      Luckily this was at a time when I had a real family doctor who knew me well and I could talk to him
      He switched me to Citalopram which probably saved my life although it was an absolute bugger to get off the stuff.
      With today's NHS??
      Don't like anyones chances

    3. One of the major problems is the encouragement and normalisation of these 'people' by our government and education systems et al.

  52. UK's top bishop claims Nigel Farage's 'mass deportation' plan is 'not the Christian way' as he calls for Brits to show 'compassion and understanding' to illegal migrants.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15045315/bishop-Nigel-Farage-mass-deportation-plan-not-Christian-compassion-understanding-illegal-migrants.html

    The total disconnect is unbelievable. They are ILLEGAL ECONOMIC MIGRANTS.

    If the Bishop were to house half a dozen in his palace i would give him 3 months before he had his throat slit.

      1. There is nothing worse than someone who lives in a palace virtue signalling. Perhaps someone could tell the JWK that.

        1. You can tell the self-abusing – and self-confusing – Idiot King what you like but he will not understand it.

    2. And as far as Church law is concerned they are all heretics. But it would have to be a very big bonfire…

      1. Burn the bishops first. At least there would be little pools of gold and gems from their vestments as opposed to burnt sandals and shitty dhoti ash.

        1. There was a famous scene in the Russian film about the icon painter Andrei Rublev in which the priest is made to swallow his melted down gold cross.

          1. A similar scene in a book i read about Lord Rahl books. In that case it was a child buried to the neck in sand.

    3. Not only are they illegal, they hate Christianity! Their aim is to eradicate it and replace it with submission.

  53. To those who asked about Araminta, and I thought I'd seen her on Freespeech Backlash so I asked Tom – he's confirmed just now not seen her for some time. Sorry to say, folks.

          1. Minty expressed a need to not engage online a few months ago and said a provisional goodbye. JR has shared that he is very ill indeed. I pray for them both and wish them each so well.

      3. Bloody hell you lot. If we are jot careful it will be me, Wibbling and Phizee left (at a pinch). Sort yourselves out!!!

        Edit: and the fragrant (in every sense of the word, no (sic) required) Caroline.

        1. What can i say. Our youngest member is a bit younger than me and i'm 60.

          Don't know if you know but little groups meet up socially from time to time in different parts of the country. Hertslass does the contact details.

          We emphasise and commiserate but we also like a good Pub Lunch !

          What part of the country are you in?

      4. Johnathan has some problems with his eyes but he may be back, hopefully. Last seen on Breitbart.

    2. Her birthday is in ten days' time – 7th September. I hope she'll look in then.

      1. Thanks Rastus, that would be good 🙂 Those who have her dets might send a happy buffmoid greeting, see if any reply?

          2. Plum-Tart was a regular and popular (Cornish) contributor from way back in the old days of the DT forum. She transferred to NoTTLe (like most of us did) but has since disappeared.

          5. He would be late 70's by now. One of our Nottler ladies visited to see how he was and true to form he was rude to her.

          7. Yep. He made accusations against Garlands which having spent a lot of time with her i found unbelievable. He was also nasty to some of our older Nottlers who had not long suffered a bereavement.

            I suppose living alone and then his prescious cat died it all got a bit much.

          11. 'Twas I who visited; he wasn't rude to me. I just sensed he wanted to be left in peace. He said he was having problems with his internet.

          12. I think he's got a job at my dentist's surgery. He checks all the electronic mail and messages for grammar.

          13. Geoff banned him for his campaign of nasty posts to Conway at a very difficult time of his life. He then came back later as Peter Anderson but stopped posting a while ago. Poppiesmum went to see him as she was worried – he'd recently lost his beloved cat – but he sent her away.

          15. One of the Nottlers used to keep in touch, lacoste I believe, but she stopped responding to notes.
            She was very distraught when her dog died and stopped posting here very soon after that happened.

            It's a pity, I used to like her comments.

            Hertslass had her email contact but said that she had requested to be left alone; I used to send the occasional email wishing her well and asking after her; she didn't respond, which was when HL said she wanted to be left alone.

          19. She used to live near Penzance and she loves the Beatles – especially George Harrison.

            She also is very fond of the novels of Howard Spring who set some of his books in Cornwall.

  54. So, all those flags and red crosses painted on our roads are in celebration of a muslim saint – El Kadher. That's probably why they haven't been torn down yet. I knew there must be a reason for the inaction.

    Saint George
    In Palestinian culture, El Khader is commonly identified with Saint George, known locally as Mar Jirjis or Jirjis. Despite originating from distinct religious traditions—Saint George as a Christian martyr and El Khader as an Islamic holy figure—the two have become figures of a shared veneration. This syncretism is especially prominent in the town of al-Khader near Bethlehem, where there is a monastery dedicated to Saint George.

    1. Like so many things Islam uses to justify itself, it predates Islam by centuries.

      Mohammed was extremely astute in the way that he claimed other religions' tradition as being Islamic.
      The claim to flying on a magic beast to the temple mount in Jerusalem showing Islam had a connection, where none existed, being another example.

      1. And much of the esrly parts of the Quran are rewrites of Jewish law, hence the similarities. Main difference is that the Quran was written a thousand years or so later, in modern terms "to be relevant to Arabs". A bit like the Book of Mormon and the Bible.

        1. I know it is treated as a sort of part one and part two, but I've always viewed the Bible as two completely different items.

  58. Lord Farquard
    5h
    Our flag is doing its job perfectly, like garlic to vampires.
    Traitors and enemies outing themselves.

    1. Don't be beestly to our Ange.

      She aint got no education so she carnt be expected to understand the rules.

    2. Before my late wife went into a care home I, as having POA, transferred ownership of her half of the property to her son and daughter through a solicitor. As this was more than 7 years ago IHT is negated .. When I bite the dust my half is bequeathed to them too.

      1. Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance, FA.
        Good plan, you have.
        Here, we don't have IHT (for the moment) but the election this autumn may well change that.

        1. We have it – but only on estaes greater than $13M and change. So, not most people's problem. And anyone with an estate that size will have accountants and lawyers to avoid the issue anyway. After all, Trump managed to inherit his father's wealth without a nickel in tax being paid.

      2. Same here, Alec, we both have POA, I have a daughter from previous marriage who has been raised by current husband as his own. She will inherit everything when both of us have died. She also has POA if one survives the other to go into a home. Important to take legal advice I think, if offspring involved, especially if not one's own although raised as such.

        1. Yes Kate it’s important that ones affairs are sorted as early as possible with the aid of legal advice, you never know what’s round the corner x

          1. I realised that after dad died, he’d already done it – made everything so much easier. If you have to deal with solicitors/wills etc can be quite stressful, the last thing you want.

    3. Transfers between husband and wife are deemed at nil cost, but in this case the husband will take on costs etc from her. Of course, there is nothing lawfully to stop him (if he is her husband) re-giving her half back in the future.

      Whilst this is lawful, optically for politicians it is suicidal

      1. Apparently not in her case. Standard, "Do as I say not as I do" leftwing BS.

        The worst thing about modern politicians, is that they have lost all sense of honour, or loyalty to their country and its people.

        1. And in the Ginger Growlers case her constituents too. Where does she hold her constituency surgery and how often? Given her primary residence is miles and miles away.

          Her neighbours say they never see her. Except when she is embarrassing herself thinking she's Lilo Lil.

  60. The wind farm that shows why Miliband’s energy bill claims are wrong

    The staggering cost of renewable subsidies is undermining claims about the benefits of net zero

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/f9419be68d9e1736

    Mr Flibble
    3 hrs ago
    Since 2006 the UK has spent £220 billion on Net Zero and all we've got for it are the highest energy costs on the bloody planet and a dying manufacturing industry.

    North Star
    3 hrs ago
    Can you imagine any private company investing huge amounts in the upstream part of a process before having the downstream part fully operational? Truly our country is run (both parties) by the most inept bunch of 🤡 🤡 🤡

  61. Afternoon all,

    I've been using Google Chrome's AI answers recently to discover the issues relating to grooming a terrier by using either cutters or strippimg its coat.

    It seems owners ought to know the proper way of maintaining their dog's coat condition using the most appropriate grooming method according the breed's natural coat layering and growth.

    I've noticed that improved AI applications are now being developed by Anthropic AI under the name Claude so I may see if it can come up with any answers that the breed group can't come up with.

    Here's an introduction to Claude:

    https://www.anthropic.com/news/introducing-claude

      1. I've only got as far as reading the link I've posted.
        However, in that link there is a trial button leading to a free, enhanced and unlimited usage options.

        May start with the free one and see what it can do in a conversational mode which seems to be its forté.

          1. I’m not jumping in at the moment – Claude doesn’t have the right user profile for me.

        2. Protonmail has one which is free if you are a subscriber. It is private, but the results have the Google bias.
          Gab has a Christian-based AI called Aria which gives non-culturalmarxist results.

          I used a simple test on the protonmail one
          "Tell me about black pride"
          "Tell me about white pride"
          It advised me on how I could engage respectfully with the first, the second was apparently too evil even to talk about.

      2. I've only got as far as reading the link I've posted.
        However, in that link there is a trial button leading to a free, enhanced and unlimited usage options.

        May start with the free one and see what it can do in a conversational mode which seems to be its forté.

    2. I have a 14 year old Border Terrier. Used to take her for stripping, she hated it and would rush to me, shaking head to paw. Looked very good though, cost was around £90 from memory. Then husband started using an old electric razor to shave her fur which he did for a couple of years – dog looks good and interestingly now doesn't seem to need shaving any more, although I do brush her. She's never been shown, or had pups, so that would be a consideration for owners.

      1. I understand that Lakeland Terriers are double coated, the undercoat being shed in summer and autumn and a top coat being coarser with hairs having a lifetime of three to four years. Working dogs would get their top coats pulled out naturally in the undergrowth allowing new coarse hair growth from new follicles.

        I thought that the stripping procedure should not be uncomfortable for a dog but more time consuming for owners should they undertake to do it themselves.

        1. Dog is Border, similar to Lakeland. Some have a thicker coat, and she’s one of them 🙂 She was held on a short slip lead, which she didn’t like – normally has no lead at all, never needed one.

    1. Excellent !

      I took delivery today of the Red Ensign to fly from my flagpole on September 3rd to commemorate the sacrifices made by the Merchant Navy.

      1. I'll be flying the RAF ensign on 15th September, Battle of Britain Day (and the day before which is the designated Sunday).

    1. GP's are even afraid to mention to patients their illnesses mostly stem from obesity.

      Diabetes can be reversed by diet and exercise but they take the easy way out and prescribe drugs.

      Not to mention the state of hospital food not linked to the condition that put the patient in hospital in the first place.

      If hospitals can tailor their menus to take into account Vegan, Kosher and Halal they should also be able to tailor it to the underlying illness.

      1. The reason they don't is because all hospitals and GPs are in hock to Big Pharma. They rely on the funding provided by the drugs companies so they continue to prescribe their expensive drugs. Those drugs do not cure conditions, they simply mask the symptoms.

        After all, for Big Pharma, a patient cured is a customer lost.

        1. My Mother in Law was on a ward where none of the patients were ever expected to be discharged.

          When i visited she had been doped but was still with us.
          The supper came round for these octogenarians.
          A pasty so hard they couldn't break into it.
          I
          looked around and though there were young women around they were fluttering like butterflies around the nurse at her station. Probably doing studies rather than care.
          Not one of them offered assistance to help feed them.

          She was also on oxygen and complained that her eyes were burning. Cheap fucking rubbish!
          I got her a better one.

          The bitter irony for me was my own mother was killed in a car crash 20 years previous and the Hospital was named after Princess Diana.

          The first morning of our annual holiday on the Broads many years before ….the 9.am radio news announced Diana has died in a car crash in Paris.

          Put a dampener on things but me and Mam still went fishing for pike.

      2. The reason they don't is because all hospitals and GPs are in hock to Big Pharma. They rely on the funding provided by the drugs companies so they continue to prescribe their expensive drugs. Those drugs do not cure conditions, they simply mask the symptoms.

        After all, for Big Pharma, a patient cured is a customer lost.

  64. A nicked comment I fear may be correct if this afternoon verdict goes for the Home Office I fear it even more…………
    "Britain is sliding into the oldest trap in the book – and the government is laying the bait. Across towns and cities, ordinary people protesting the collapse of their communities are being met not just by police lines but by choreographed mobs of left-wing activists, bussed in under banners like Stand Up to Racism. This isn't spontaneous counter-protest. It's state-sanctioned provocation.

    The pattern is clear. Locals rally outside migrant hotels to demand their closure. Counter-demonstrators, backed by NGOs and shielded by police, descend to brand them "racist." The two sides clash. Cameras roll. The headlines write themselves: far-right violence, public order crisis, threat to democracy. Suddenly, the story isn't the government's betrayal over immigration – it's the need for more powers, more crackdowns, more control.

    This is how you turn legitimate dissent into criminality. By baiting it, inflaming it, and then using it as the pretext for repression. The government doesn't fear the leftist mobs because those mobs serve their purpose. They fear the ordinary British majority that is waking up to the reality of demographic change, cultural erosion, and the slow replacement of their birthright. That majority must be discredited and contained – and street clashes give the state exactly the excuse it needs.

    Make no mistake: none of this is accidental. A government that wanted peace would listen to the people, end the hotel racket, and restore order by defending the border. Instead, it manufactures conflict at home while waving more arrivals through abroad. The goal isn't resolution. It's escalation – so they can claim extraordinary powers while painting patriots as extremists.

    The riots aren't the breakdown of the system; they are the system."

    1. I take a different assessment.
      Encourage it, let them double down. It's a process. Things must escalate.. then escalate further.. and then some.. for three or four more years.
      The worst outcome would be if the Starmer regime appeased your wishes, ended the chaos.. and then along with the radical left in the civil service remained in power for another decade.

    2. I take a different assessment.
      Encourage it, let them double down. It's a process. Things must escalate.. then escalate further.. and then some.. for three or four more years.
      The worst outcome would be if the Starmer regime appeased your wishes, ended the chaos.. and then along with the radical left in the civil service remained in power for another decade.

    3. I take a different assessment.
      Encourage it, let them double down. It's a process. Things must escalate.. then escalate further.. and then some.. for three or four more years.
      The worst outcome would be if the Starmer regime appeased your wishes, ended the chaos.. and then along with the radical left in the civil service remained in power for another decade.

  65. I hope Sue Edison's scheduled operation has gone ahead and that it was successful.
    May she make a complete and swift recovery.

    2. I hope so too. She's paying for afternoon teas at Claridges. I may have forgotten to mention that part.

    4. Fingers crossed for the lovely Sue Ed. I hope someone in touch with her will let us all know as soon as possible. I know that there is a way of ensuring that such a progress post always shoots to the top of the page and stays there. Sending xxxs to you Sue Ed.

      2. Susan works at the BBC as a Far Right Executive and is on LinkedIn, so relatively easy to send her a message of good wishes.

  66. Just been reading comments on a Speccie article saying that the Government have won their appeal in the Epping hotel case – all 3 leftist judges came down in their favour.

      4. Fears? It’s s racing certainty. The people said no;
        The unelected unaccountable “judges” said yes

        There will be trouble. The law is an ass.

        It’s like Spider-brooch Hale’s ruling on the prorogation. No one believes it.

        1. Hale and her ilk is the logical conclusion to and hoped for outcome of Blair’s wrecking of the legal system

    2. Well, what a surprise – the only delay seems to have been choosing the judges from the hordes of Lefties available!

    4. Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper have learnt from the former repulsive Joe Biden administration in the USA that they can get the legal result they want by picking the judges who will decide in their favour.

      1. Such activity in the US was common long before Biden, and the Trump administration is doing the exact same thing – pick a court in a very Conservative state, whereas Biden's lot picked courts in very Liberal states.

        Of course, supreme court judges being appointments of the president at the time just means that both parties are eager to "pack the court". Fate (as in when deaths have occurred) has favoured the Republicans of late, so we have a 6 to 3 ratio. And somehow we have a Roman Catholic dominated court, with 6 practicing and one lapsed. The other two are one each, Protestant and Jew. This in a country where Protestantism of various types is by far the majority religion. How such a court can rule with an open mind on things like abortion, I do not know. They either have to deny their faith or deny the oath they swore.

      2. If Hislop were still an effective satirist he would say that if this is justice he is a banana.

  67. Just been reading comments on a Speccie article saying that the Government have won their appeal in the Epping hotel case – all 3 leftist judges came down in their favour.

  68. 411998+ up ticks,

    So the ugly bug team AKA the home office knifes the nation betwixt the shoulder blades,

    CARLOS JASSO
    Asylum seekers can continue to be housed in a hotel in Epping after the Home Office won a significant legal victory.

    Earlier this month council leaders won a temporary injunction to close the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, after it became a focus for anti-immigration protests. All asylum seekers faced having to leave the hotel by Sept 12.

    The Home Office and owners Somani Hotels Ltd later appealed the decision.

    At the Court of Appeal on Friday, Lord Justice Bean, Lady Justice Nicola Davies and Lord Justice Cobb ruling in the Home Office’s favour and ordered for the interim-injunction to be overturned.

    A final decision on the future of the hotel is set to be decided at a later court date this autumn.

    It comes after Home Office lawyers argued on Thursday that asylum seekers’ rights are more important than the concerns of the people of Epping.

    Keep in mind more home office reinforcements are coming ashore at dover on a daily basis.

      1. It was hardly a surprise.
        It's now official.
        If you are a British law abiding taxpayer you are at the bottom of the heap.
        Merely confirming what we already suspected.

        1. Exactly. The rights of itinerant foreign criminals come before those of the settled, law-abiding people.

        1. 311998+ up ticks,

          Afternoon KTL,
          Running through my mind the morning old shaky had it right back in them days.

      2. Wasn't there another message showing that all three judges had Left-leaning histories?

        1. Here they are. https://twitter.com/Suffragent_/status/1961115585405952311?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1961115585405952311%7Ctwgr%5E842c4d936bd0607c03ccdae0f361b3672cf78158%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefaultf%3Dtrollographt_u%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftrollograph.blogspot.com2F20252F082Fangela-rayner-dodges-40000-stamp-duty.htmlt_d%3DAngela20Rayner20dodges20C2A3402C00020stamp20dutyt_t%3DAngela20Rayner20dodges20C2A3402C00020stamp20dutys_o%3Ddescversion%3D3330126c57168ebd8b593d93e9878b35

    3. And the demos at Epping get larger and nastier. Start of the summer of discontent again I think, only this time they have waited for summer to end. What on earth is this government thinking, haven't they got the message. We don't want those 'asylum seekers', full stop.

      1. Both now sadly gone. We knew Neil and his wife Yvonne socially in France. A very funny man.

        1. Viv Stanshall, using his melodic descriptive voice, made the announcements of all the musical instruments being played by Mike Oldfield on his debut album Tubular Bells.

          5. A friend of mine gave me a lift in his car to a crag where we wanted to go climbing – Tubular Bells was playing on his stereo [remember those?]. I hadn't heard it before and nearly jumped out of the car when a voice by my left knee announced "Grand Piano" [or whatever came first]. !

  70. If politicians want to know how Britain reached a tipping point, they just need to visit Bournemouth

    The seaside town once famous for its elderly population is now awash with resentment and fear towards asylum seekers housed in three hotels

    Isabel Oakeshott
    27 August 2025, 8:00am BST

    In theory, strict rules govern behaviour on Bournemouth beach. On the most popular sandy stretches, no dogs are allowed between May and October, and open fires are totally forbidden.

    Anyone who brings a boom box to create a party vibe is supposed to be mindful of the volume, and there are warning signs about being aggressive or “verbally abusive”.

    Exactly who needs to be told not to “defecate anywhere other than public toilets” is a delicate question, though locals say that this particularly unpleasant habit is a new challenge. What is plain is that the demographics of this once genteel coastal resort are changing quite dramatically – along with general standards of conduct. Fighting, swearing and public urination (and worse) are at the mild end of the problem.

    Nowhere is the transformation of the famous seaside town more apparent than on the beach, where mass Muslim open-air prayers are now a regular occurrence. At certain times of day, mats are laid out in long rows by the promenade, and scores of worshippers – almost all men and boys – gather to perform the daily rituals set out in the Koran. Standing to face Mecca, they bow and prostrate themselves, praising Allah.

    Of course, there is nothing at all wrong with this per se. Indeed, some will see the very public displays of devotion to Islam in this most unexpected of settings as a beautiful and harmless illustration of great British tolerance towards people of all faiths and none. Christian groups have occasionally used the beach for public worship too.‡

    Then again, the UK is still officially a Christian country – making the mass baptism that took place in the sea a few weeks ago rather less surprising. To some observers, the scale of the open-air Muslim prayer sessions, along with the striking number of women fully covered up in burkas on the beach, have begun to feel like a threat to British identity and culture.

    Tourism is worth some £1.3bn a year to Bournemouth, with more than a million visitors flocking to this part of the south coast every year. In high season, the influx can double the permanent population (which stands at around 195,000).

    Not so long ago, the town had something of a reputation for being full of old people. Safe and staid, during the 1990s and early 2000s, it was the perfect place for the annual Conservative Party conference. These days, the atmosphere is considerably more lively, as coach-loads of cheerful day trippers from as far afield as Leeds and Birmingham descend to swim, barbecue and party.

    Most are more than welcome, bringing valuable business to the town. That is more than can be said for the occupants of the three migrant hotels located smack in the town centre, who – by dint of their status – cannot contribute much. The number of asylum seekers housed in the Chine, the Roundhouse and the Britannia is only in the low hundreds, but their presence has had a disproportionate impact, generating a mixture of resentment from tourists paying full whack for their own holiday accommodation, and fear and anger among local residents. At the heart of the angst is fear of crime.

    Heatwave after heatwave has exacerbated simmering tensions, bringing vast numbers of people onto the beach. Last weekend, the place was packed with hungry customers jostling for tables in the most popular eateries and long queues forming outside ice cream stalls.

    To the casual observer, the crowded beach was a joyful scene: a mass of happy friends and families making the most of the last gasp of summer. Children dug sandcastles, toddlers splashed in the shallows, and grown-ups ate gritty sandwiches and topped up their tans. Such was the competition for towel space that it could have been the Costas.

    As the afternoon wore on, latecomers scoured the shore for somewhere to put their parasols while students turned up the volume on Bluetooth speakers. Dozens of women in traditional Pakistani dress danced to Bollywood tunes.

    Zoom in, however, and there were the police – dealing with yet another fracas between shirtless young men. Asked about these ugly clashes, locals on the beach and in the town centre seem wearily used to such anti-social behaviour. Of course, some of the culprits are boozed-up Brits, but some locals claim recent arrivals are sometimes to blame. There is much muttering about crime linked to the migrant hotels.

    Official data is hard to come by, not least because the police do not routinely record crime statistics by immigration status. But, whatever the truth, perception can be as dangerous and divisive as reality.

    Such is the loss of confidence in local policing, in fact, that teams of uniformed vigilantes now patrol the streets. Dressed in high-viz vests, the (apolitical) “Safeguard Force” of volunteers do their best to provide visible reassurance, especially to women and girls.

    Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council is sufficiently dismayed by what is going on to have issued a “Public Space Protection Order”, allowing police and council officers to issue fines to anyone suspected of anti-social behaviour.

    Curiously, the sign warning that the sand should not be used as a loo, and prohibiting other activities, says nothing about litter, one of the most obvious problems.

    As dusk falls and people head home, the beach is strewn with thousands of discarded fag butts, empty lager cans, crumpled plastic bottles and crisp and sweet packets, left by people of all backgrounds, races and creeds. Nor is there any mention of narcotics, which seem to be dealt, and consumed, in plain sight.

    What does all this mean? It is a microcosm, illustrating some of the many social problems linked to the catastrophic loss of control of our borders. In the migrant camps of Calais, public defecation is standard behaviour. Now it seems to be here: on Bournemouth beach and elsewhere. The very visible tipping point that has seen tens of thousands of ordinary people take to the streets in protest this summer has come hard and fast, but has been in the making for a long time.

    This time last year, a pledge to carry out mass deportations would have been unthinkable from a mainstream political party in the UK. Today, such a promise looks like the key to millions of votes.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/27/britain-reached-tipping-point-bournemouth

    ‡ There is eveything wrong with this. Muslims praying in the open are engaging in an ostentatious and hostile act of defiance. They are saying "We dare you to stop us, to remove us!"

    The rest of the article is a depressing judgment on the state of Britain today, a nation in which too many people do not know how to behave properly and which is so overcrowded that friction will soon turn to anger and that anger to violence.

    1. Lots and lots of dogs on the beach between November and April might be a start.
      Eating bacon sarnies and accidentally dropping bacon rind in the areas where they pray.
      I wonder how many of those praying come from the three hotels?

    2. "If politicians want to know how Britain reached a tipping point, they just need to visit Bournemouth"

      Politicians alone caused Britain to reach a tipping point.

  71. I have just been down to the Royal Courts of “Justice” where there is a residual element of anger over the decision and some journalists still sniffing around.

    I was talking to someone from 2up2down TV who was interviewing a man from Loughton in a St George's flag.

    A woman from a Reuters equivalent came over to get a few quotes from Loughton man. She wasn’t interested in me.. 2Up2Down man made her get some quotes from “Middle Class Accountant” … she wasn’t happy, she wanted to frame it as a working-class racist thingy. Well, don’t mess with women from Wolves.

    1. Either kneeling, checking social media for hurty words or mincing around in tutus at some ethnic festivity.

  74. A random BTL comment I came across:


    The government may think it has won a victory against the indigenous British people – but it has certainly NOT won the war.

    1. La France a perdu une bataille, mais la France n'a pas perdu la guerre. CDG.

      He was right, but in his case it was not the French who won the war.

        1. I would be very surprised if there are many Nottlers who wouldn't have worked that out.
          If there are several, I've been grossly overestimating the general knowledge of the community.

          BTYGWDIK

          But there you go what do I know

          3. To King Stephen and BoB: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ (At least that was what I learnt at school).

          1. Agreed, molamola, hence my perceived need for clarification for our more linguistically challenged posters. Lol.

    2. Govt has won a skirmish prior to battle. I may be wrong, but hasn't govt won only an appeal in order to appeal the injunction, which has been overturned until the final appeal is heard in October?

    1. Years ago we were at a kiddies animal farm type place with a neighbour and their 7 year old daughter. There was a lovely pot bellied pig there. The little girl asked if they could have a pot bellied pig. The wife looked at her husband then turned to the girl and said "We've already got one" A snigger was stifled

    2. Years ago we were at a kiddies animal farm type place with a neighbour and their 7 year old daughter. There was a lovely pot bellied pig there. The little girl asked if they could have a pot bellied pig. The wife looked at her husband then turned to the girl and said "We've already got one" A snigger was stifled

    2. The UK government won a bid to lift a court order that banned it from housing asylum seekers in a hotel, after the Court of Appeal said a lower court's decision was flawed.
      The Court of Appeal's decision was based on the practical difficulties in relocating asylum seekers and the risk of encouraging protest, according to Judge David Bean.
      .
      Judge Mr Bean
       https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4107a3748ebe86dda83659437316ecbe0d8fb4cda1a38d6cbae59f7e3fe386f1.jpg

    4. That means the immigrant bloke currently on trial must be found not guilty and the victim should be taken to Africa.

  78. An interesting essay spoiled only by the last line. One might also quibble about 2029 – I suspect there'll be some serious action before then.

    Britain is the Soviet Union in the 1980s. And Farage is our Gorbachev

    Like in the late-stage USSR, the managerial class sticks rigidly to ideology in defiance of reality

    Chris Bayliss
    28 August 2025, 3:14pm BST

    Britain's managerial class increasingly resembles that of the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. They know that change is coming, but they're doing their utmost to ignore the fact as best they can, for as long as they can.

    Keir Starmer plays the part of Yuri Andropov – a once plausible face of the system, now presiding over a stagnant regime that few believe in and whose old solutions no longer have any effect.

    When his time is up, perhaps Angela Rayner or Ed Miliband will stand in briefly as the British Konstantin Chernenko; an absurd, puppet-like centrepiece of a court riven by indecision.

    But Reform is coming. Waiting in the wings is Nigel Farage, poised to play the role of Britain's Gorbachev.

    Like the USSR of the early 1980s, political rigidity and borderline terror at the idea of questioning obsolete dogma infects almost every corner of institutional Britain.

    And one man has made it his mission to instigate a generational clearing out of the corridors of power; to remove those who see their roles as obstacles to change and as defenders of official orthodoxy.

    What sets Farage apart in the eyes of his supporters is his suggestion that the Government can actually do things, and that if something gets in the way, it can be removed. This is in stark contrast to either of the two main parties.

    Labour in particular seem so hemmed in by ideological conformity that they are unable even to think about the nature of the problems facing the country, let alone address them.

    All of their policy suggestions sound like helpless tinkering that will make things worse – such as Rachel Reeves reportedly considering levying National Insurance on rental income, or the giving of a sort of automatic temporary asylum to people from Afghanistan or Syria.

    The Tories on the other hand, were hamstrung by their timid acceptance of the fact that certain things were simply politically off-limits. If the civil service said that the Supreme Court wouldn't allow it, then it couldn't be done, and that was that.

    The contrast was emphasised by Reform UK's dramatic unveiling of a toughened-up policy platform on immigration and deportation on Tuesday. Though it prompted a flurry of criticism, both from establishment commentators and from others on the Right who said it was ill-thought through and shallow, its blunt, brash messaging landed with core supporters.

    This Gorbachev analogy works nicely, in as far as Nigel Farage appears to be offering a British Glasnost. A political opening up that allows the state to navigate problems as they exist in reality, without being constrained by theoretic orthodoxies. For us, Human Rights law has been playing the role of Marxism-Leninism.

    But beyond immigration policy, the public finances need to be dealt with. While Farage's Glasnost is likely to be popular with a large swathe of the electorate, he will have to accompany it with a British Perestroika; wrenching economic reforms that will be popular with pretty much nobody.

    By 2029, Britain's period of productivity stagnation will have gone on for longer than that of the Brezhnev era, and some bold supply side reforms will do it a power of good.

    But at some point, a Reform government will need to untangle the bewildering array of benefits, entitlements, cross-subsidies and needs-based pricing that have effectively cancelled the free market in Britain, and created a burden that is far too great for the tax-paying public to bear.

    All of this is going to pose existential questions about what the British state itself is for, and whom it exists to serve. This will challenge underlying assumptions going back to 1945, let alone those of 1997 – assumptions that are as dear to Reform supporters as they are to the current nomenklatura. In the sour political atmosphere that follows, people are likely to look for answers in the form of even deeper radicalism on questions of identity and belonging – the like of which Farage has always firmly resisted.

    Like Gorbachev, Farage may find himself desperately trying to hold together a system that he has spent his career trying to shake up, as economic and political forces beyond his control finish the work he began.

    If that is the case, the only remaining question is; where will Britain's Yeltsin, or even Putin, emerge from?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/28/britain-is-the-ussr-in-1980s-and-farage-is-gorbachev

  79. Wordle No. 1,532 3/6

    ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 29 Aug 2035

    Attachment for Birdie Three?

    1. Well done – I chose the wrong one of two options….. bogey time!!
      Wordle 1,532 5/6

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

    3. JJust To hilight your skills

      Wordle 1,532 5/6

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

      I played with the new club champion at the golf course today, I was successful in highlighting his skills as well. Not that his skills needed much highlighting!

    4. Well done, just a par 4 here.

      Wordle 1,532 4/6

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

  80. I have already received a reply from our local Essex county councillor. Well done, Sue, her mail box must have been glowing red hot.

    Kevin (Bentley – Conservative leader of ECC) posted this earlier today –

    The Cabinet at Essex County Council is demanding answers to how an email was sent from its Children’s services to staff about concerns they could have around flying the Union and St George’s flags.
    At no time was this discussed with politicians at ECC. It is not the policy of the Council.
    We have been clear that we support people who wish to raise the two flags and they will not be removed unless there is a hazard to motorists or pedestrians.
    The investigation will report directly back to Cabinet when further actions will be considered

    1. Sackings in the offing or deck chairs being quickly shuffled by the hired help? Let's see what, "politicians at ECC" in Kevin's words, actually do about this horror show.

    1. Certainly is. what a shithole. Got ‘kettled’ by the riot police there once when all flights to UK cancelled because of fog.

  83. Madeline Grant
    Why Rachel Reeves will keep designing terrible taxes
    29 August 2025, 10:02am

    I suspect most of us long ago gave up on expecting any humility from our politicians – indeed, the less impressive they become and the more impotent it is clear that they actually are, the more their God complexes seem to flare up. It’s almost like they think humans are characters in a simulator game – like the popular Sims franchise – who can be clicked on and commanded at will rather than rational actors with their own agency. Nowhere is this truer than in economic policy, where the fatal dominance of wonks who think too highly of theory and politicians who think too highly of themselves has resulted in almost no one thinking about how humans actually behave. This helps explain why politicians are so often terrible at designing taxes and anticipating how people may seek to avoid them.

    It has been a problem in tax policy for centuries. Between 1696 and the 1850s, many thousands of homeowners decided they’d rather go without sunlight than pay the hated window tax. During the reign of Queen Anne, an attempt to target the rich by taxing luxurious patterned wallpaper similarly backfired when crafty homeowners began buying plain wallpaper and paying artisans to stencil their patterns on directly.

    No one invented more taxes than William Pitt the Younger as he attempted to fund the costly war with Napoleonic France (though I’m sure if they had enough time, Rachel and Torsten could give him a run for his money). In 1795, scrabbling around for easy revenue-raisers, Pitt began taxing the perfumed powder used to colour Georgian wigs. Rather than pay up, many more people decided they could do without their elaborate hairstyles. The policy is credited with ushering in new trends for cropped hair and hastening the end of Britain’s booming wig industry – as you can see by comparing portraits from the 1780s and the 1800s.

    Still, Pitt was a brilliant man and would sometimes rethink taxes when it became clear that they were creating perverse effects. In 1784, he reduced taxation on tea from a staggering 119 per cent to 12.5 per cent and effectively destroyed its vast black market at the stroke of a quill pen, raising revenues at the same time. I’m not convinced, however, that our current government possesses the humility to admit their errors and change course.

    One change currently being considered by the Treasury is an NIC increase for landlords in an attempt to boost revenue in the upcoming Budget. You detect that telltale misunderstanding of human nature and disdain for unintended consequences. Though some landlords may absorb the cost, many more would surely pass on the costs to their tenants via rent hikes or exit the sector altogether, thereby pushing up rents. Reeves and her team must know this but, boxed in by the PM’s earlier promises not to touch VAT, income tax, etc., they may be willing to overlook it, should it raise money without breaching their ‘red lines’.

    Of course, there are rogue landlords, from whom tenants deserve protection. But when the bad behaviour goes the other way, the law already protects wrong-doers to a shocking extent – a fact that is, in itself, contributing to the exodus of small private landlords. A relative of mine was recently forced to instruct lawyers at great expense and apply to the High Court to evict a tenant who owes tens of thousands of pounds in unpaid rent arrears. On average, it now takes a landlord almost eight months to regain possession of their property after issuing a claim to court. The mere threat of the renters’ rights Bill coming into force has already impacted the market, with vast numbers of landlords selling up. Targeting landlords may be easy but it feels like displacement activity for the fundamental issue of supply and demand, an area where the government is notably failing, especially in the capital.

    It’s almost like government officials haven’t moved on from the days of the Roman augury; much forecasting might as well be done with bird entrails for all the bearing it has on reality. The government’s initial forecast massively overestimated the sums raised by the VAT raid on independent schools, since nearly four times the number of pupils have been displaced into the state sector than anticipated. Their pledge to hire 6,500 new teachers has quietly been shelved (although Labour MPs seem remarkably unbothered by this, perhaps because the policy was always motivated more by class resentment than raising revenue). HMRC recently awarded their ‘expert of the year’ prize to the wonk who performed the costings on the family farm tax – a year before the policy actually takes effect, which prompts the question of how on earth they feel they can judge its success or failure now.

    Other follies spring to mind. The high rate of income tax incentivises sole practitioners to pay themselves through dividends instead of pay packets. Excessive tobacco duty has now reached such a high rate that further increases are merely spurring black market and criminal behaviour without actually reducing smoking rates. A recent KPMG report found that one in four cigarettes consumed in the UK now comes from the illegal market, amounting to billions in lost government revenue. Despite Labour MPs’ attempts to explain why increasing employer NICs is not in fact a tax on ‘working people’ or a ‘jobs tax’, predictably, it has resulted in 157,000 fewer people on payrolls, while the OBR estimates that in the medium term, employees will bear about three-quarters of the NIC increase.

    This is perhaps the worst thing about ill-designed taxes that ignore human behaviour; not only do they target the wrong people and the wrong things, they all but guarantee that the government will go back for more.

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

    flowergirl
    7 hours ago
    Well, one person who won't be paying up without a fight is Ange Rayner. She has just used the well-known tax dodge of nominating her new Brighton pad as her main home to save herself 40 grand in stamp duty; something for which Labour never stopped smearing the Tories when they did it. Extraordinary, because I thought the most sacred tenet of socialism was a joy in paying taxes, the more the better. Nothing is supposed to make a true socialist happier than handing over as much money as possible to that high temple of socialism, the state.

    Mandevillej
    7 hours ago
    "HMRC recently awarded their ‘expert of the year’ prize to the wonk who performed the costings on the family farm tax"

    Absolutely gob-smacked at how arrogant and tone-deaf this is. Marie Antoinette and 'Let them eat cake' is insulted by any comparison. I'm sure the farming families losing their livelihoods after hundreds of years, and Britain's food-supply just before a war, will be impressed that HMRC think the evil – behind it has done jolly good work.

    1. And the farmers who have killed themselves over it. May their families find some consolation in the tragedies, one day.

  84. 'Night All
    Anybody wondering about the legal system in this country needs to understand that senior judges are selected by the Judicial Appointments Commission, which has on its website, and I quote word for word: "Diversity is at the heart of what we do, and we’re consistently working to make sure our selection processes are fair and free from bias." In other words, we are committed to getting more brown people on the bench. You can find the site with that quote.

    Judges are required by this and like bodies to punish certain offences more harshly if they are deemed "hate" or "racist" crimes.

    The leftwing, woke bias is not hidden. They boast about it.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3e438c5d0085f58834be965518023e374a58a5eaf49d6a84ae2a38d02ceecdd5.jpg

    3. I've said before, those people here calling for radical change will have to accept that terrorism and atrocities are the only way of forcing your will on the rest of us. Voting will never get you what you want. Partly because those in entrenched positions of power will defy the electorate, but mainly because you will never get enough people to vote for the kinds of parties who will commit to imposing your views on the nation.

      1. Will Stephen Yaxley–Lennon (who adopted the alias of Tommy Robinson to protect his family) prove to be Farage's nemesis?

        1. Could be, seems to be supporting Habib/Advance. I’ve read Farage won’t support him joining Reform because he (TR) supports violence in some instances (don’t know if that’s true or otherwise).

  86. Good evening from Basingstoke.
    Eldest Daughter & I are having a coffee after Cinema and a Wetherspoon's Lunch.
    Stopped Wednesday Night at Ford in Gloucestershire opposite a lovely pub, the Plough, adjacent to the Jackdaws Castle estate.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/14aade588f117a465cbdbcff2413e91a304c7df6fcb97b574ce1746d85829515.jpg The pub enjoyed my mouth organ playing and singing!
    Went for a walk on Thursday morning and caught this lot out for a gallop:- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ca2af7c39de44a8a13702e1cc94f0eec792ae6777fb47bdc85525060ef59639b.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b7e2e4b5628063b5ae57d810b576b6fc841d65bd35debb1214264780b35aed2c.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/315a994f88c6533eb979e1d5bac9ec4fea7f2c1779ea1a31909788bb0ad80cea.jpg

    2. I doubt they'd be doing more than a three-quarter speed on a Thursday. Wednesdays are work days, usually. Jonjo O'Neill's string, I believe.

    1. Oh dear. Has the invasion washed up on the Rees-Mogg doorstep? I guess he will start paying attention to it now.

    2. OYO hotels, apparently. Yet another company to be roundly boycotted when we get the chance,

    4. I went to a weekend retreat at Winford Manor when it was owned by the Christian Omega Order. How awful to have it become a foreign-owned hotel. No wonder it is housing illegals- I'll bet that most of the landlords who are going to rent out their properties to house illegals are immigrants too.

  88. Why hasn't the judge who ruled the Epping Hotel not been dismissed by now, as it it very clear that the appeal has damned him as incompetent?

      1. I think he made a good decision, the timing might be off, but if he's as bad as the higher court is suggesting, he should resign or be sacked.
        The statement about his judgement was pretty damning.

    2. I'm sure Edwin Pugh who infests the BTL on Telegraph letters could point out why all the judges made the correct decisions….at the time…………………….

      I would find it interesting once they took their stupid wigs off and were recognised in the streets who would attack them first.

      Would it be the Rolex snatchers…The Ukrainian male prostitutes or the enemies of the Bulgarian/Albanian/Ghanian drug dealers? Or stabbed to death on their doorstep by a illegal Deliveroo delivery when when they complained their smoked salmon bagels had gob spit all over them.

      Who can say…

  89. Here we go.

    Canada passed an Online Streaming Act in 2023 that included a right to personal privacy. However, two months later the government passed an official languages bill that also enhanced the Streaming act removing the right to privacy and replaced it with a language rights clause.

    A university professor discovered the error recently and reported it. Oops our mistake said the minister responsible for the change – we replaced the wrong clause.

    Seriously a mistake? I would have thought that amendments to existing bills would be so thoroughly validated that such mistakes would not happen.

    1. Call me a cynic
      Would the error have given Government even greater powers to snoop and control?

    1. I don't believe she divulged her political views and much a else beside. There are people who will say anything to sell a book.

    2. They will say anything to support and further their agenda and narrative. Truth? Ha! What's that? Words are simply tools they use with no integrity attached to them.

        1. She probably didn't realise that she was actually breaking here Coronation Oath by Assenting to the European Communities Act. Or if she did, was "advised" to go along with it. I seem to recall reading that she said "but can't we just leave?" to David Cameron.

          1. The RF are surrounded by overpaid, complete idiots posing as advisors. As are the "Government".

      2. HM couldn't vote. She did give Royal Assent to EU legislation when brought in by her governments, though.

  93. And another Farage Red Flag #24

    When asked by the DT.. "Who would you most like to have a cup of tea with… anyone in history."
    Reform chairman David Bull answered: "Great question.. I would like tea with the current King."

    1. Whatta whelp. This man reminds me of the Welsh twat who heralded the demise of Boris, and the Conservatives in general ( Guta Hari? something like that).

  94. And another Farage Red Flag #24

    When asked by the DT.. "Who would you most like to have a cup of tea with… anyone in history."
    Reform chairman David Bull answered: "Great question.. I would like tea with the current King."

        1. And taxpayer funded 'Security' to keep the occupants safe from the fury of the populace at large.

          1. HI C1. Interesting isn't it that people like them need high fences from the populace they purported to represent. In the UK.

            Anyone would think they were living in Cape Town over run by starving nigwogs.

        3. Caroline Lucas owns 5 such properties. All in Brighton. She's a crook. All Lefties are.

    3. "into Angela Rayner's properties'

      Translates to 'pensioner's spare (or not) bedrooms.'

    1. Not for long if you have watched the videos released by none other than Hamas.

      Young men and women…teenagers mostly at the Nova Festival. Stripped naked and strapped to trees. Raped by men from Palestine . Then mutilated with breasts and genitals sliced off with knives.

      The Israelis filmed the aftermath. Babies decapitated in their cots. Whole villages over run and young and old slaughtered.

      1. Well yes, and I'm sure there is some hideous 'stuff' going on.

        The main problem is, and it's getting worse, is just how much can you believe from any source, anywhere, ever again??

        Without 'verification', and that needs to be clearly defined, I am inclined to believe nothing, and that troubles me greatly……

        1. rule one: If it's Hamas or Muslims presenting the narrative: It's a lie
          rule two: There is no rule two

          4. When a Muslim asks you for something and you do your best they will complain it is not enough. Anyone who knows anyone who has had dealings with them know this.

            Apparently our Government are either oblivious to this or they are happy with that.

        2. Hideous? There are multiple examples. Not just from Nova. Now we have it on the streets here.

          1. One of the things about the "Muslim Rape Gangs" that is not dwelt upon is the sheer brutality of what they did to these little girls – the torture, the physical, racial and spiritual abuse. Off the scale – and I would suggest not simply for sexual gratification. We are talking "rape as a weapon of war" in my opinion.

          2. Mark Steyn was the first to report on this, far as I recall, when he was a GBN presenter. He interviewed one of the girls, he's still in touch with her. Then he had four heart attacks quick succession, hair turned white, ended up in a wheelchair. All slightly odd. He's fully recovered, thankfully, and can be found most days on his Steynonline blog.

          3. He's not fully recovered, KJ200. He has some off days when his health prevents him from broadcasting as he would like to.

          4. ‘morning Elsie, thanks for update – hadn’t realised, I don’t listen to his broadcast, just read his blog. What a strange incident it was that happened to him, I think we all can guess. Not forgetting Hockey Stick Mann case. Thx again, Kate.

          5. He's not fully recovered, KJ200. He has some off days when his health prevents him from broadcasting as he would like to.

          6. You don't need to add 'in your opinion'.

            There are images i have seen i have had a great deal of trouble with dealing with. They keep me awake at night.

            One Nottler posted an image of a young lady in the Netherlands who was nice to a newcomer on the bus and then showed what he had done to her.

            I don't want to describe it. Because i don't want you to share the nightmare.

            Of course they are not all like this person but how is one to know?

            Please don't repost it Ped.

          7. Yes of course, the problem is just how much of the ‘evidence’ is/can be believable? It’s a real problem to me!

          8. We can’t trust any news as they are now polarised. We can only trust our own judgement.

        3. I think if Hamas is posting boastful videos of their own atrocities ((which they then attempt to deny ever happened) you can believe that it did happen. In spades.

          1. No, no, O (there’s a song in there somewhere) that’s the point, you simply can not believe it, without some form of validation/ratification – they might believe it is in their interest to post such atrocities, who knows??, I’m sure there are a (large) number of regimes that would be fully supportive of their attempts to kill Jews….

          2. Indeed there are, and our own is clearly one of them I don't know what you mean by the first part of your post, and I don't think it's funny 🙁

          3. Eh? 'No, no, O' just happens to rhyme (almost) and I thought it was quite amusing, here's the song I had in mind;

            No no, no no no o, no no no o, no no there's no limit (No Limit by 2 Unlimited, check it out!)

            – nothing more than that…. Chill out, man!

      2. Not just the israelis. The first video evidence of these absolute atrocities was broadcast by Hamas. from its terrorist bodycams, with triumphal crowing. i don't think i have ever seen anything so utterly depraved. yet we still have people cheering them on, in this country, today.

      1. What?? She's a sadly deluded, fame-hungry, low-life, two-bit slag – Bonnie Blue, however, is a feminist icon (is that right? Ed )

        2. I very much doubt that she is a feminist icon, 4G. Most people are repelled, even those who pretend not to be, or who pretend to admire her self-abasement. God. Imagine the smell, alone.

          2. Well, O, I hope you know I was being ironic (dont you?)…..

            I actually think she’s a very pretty young girl who has tragically ended up doing unbelievably disgusting things for the delectation of seriously damaged men.

            She deserves our sympathy but I suspect she would laugh in our faces and wave her Bank Statement around to show us how small-minded we all are…..

          3. She is doing it for money, 4G, and the awful thing about it fmpov is that her parents (her mother in particular) have allegedly encouraged her in this.

        1. Agreed. I find the woman and the entire EU enterprise deeply sinister.

          I read that the EU are embedded in Serbia through a multiplicity of NGOs and attempting to achieve a colour revolution there. They tried and failed using similar tactics in Georgia recently. It seems there is no end to the expansionist ambitions of the EU.

          1. Possibly, but I think the EU is a busted flush myself – I'm just worried about how much damage they may be able to do in their death spirals before they disappear down the shithouse….

          2. As I have said before Starmer will pay a high price to get back into the EU and then, within weeks. the EU will collapse and the UK will find itself having to pay all its dissolution costs.

          5. What do you mean “Starmer will pay a high price to get back into the EU”. It is us who will pay the high price.

          7. The EU wants to almost double it's budget, introducing new taxes to raise some of that, the rest coming from member states.

            Many have refused, but at the end of the day they're not given any choice.

            The EU was doomed to fail. A protectionist, communist bloc with a command economy based around massive wealth transfers?

            That's utterly idiotic.

          8. I look forward to Weidel, and what she makes of it. And Le Pen when finally released from house arrest.

          9. Don't forget the Srebrnica genocide.

            Muslims bring it to our doorstep and then win or fail. The ones that manage to stop them are called all the things we are being called now.

            Edited to avoid a jail sentence.

    2. The problem is that "the law" and the judiciary were "fixed" by Blair and the wrecking crew.

      What we are seeing is exactly what Blair intended.

      1. 411998+ up ticks,

        Evening S,

        The blair ( miranda’s ) body foundation mindset dwells in the main of willy watching and going on cottaging jaunts, anyone supporting him I’m sure has the very same interests

    3. Dear Mister Musk, ye of rocket and satellite power think the electorate has anything to do with these perverse decisions?

      Send your rockets down.

      The so called British Council and the EU offices were a good hit by Putin.

      Help him.

      1. I think it's more than they can't stand politicians and their lies, so something completely different looks better. I will have to discuss this one with my granddaughter who is of that cohort. But she has a good degree and immediately found employment in her area of expertise, so I'm not at all sure she is typical. Plus both her parents are well grounded, and her grandfather is wisdom itself…

      1. I can't help thinking that if Musk really wanted to "Bugger the Ukraine" it is well within his powers so to do.

  98. Evening, all. I don't recall reading for pleasure being promoted in my school when I was a pupil so when did it become a feature which is no longer there?

    1. It all depends i suppose. My Father couldn't read or write. There were no books in the house i grew up in.
      At my Primary School it wasn't until i left i discovered there was actually a small library.

      I think learning was frowned upon. Nothing was expected of us other than fill the lower tasks.

      I experienced the same thing at secondary school when a person pretending to be a careers advisor in my last year suggested working at Sweetheart Plastics or Thorn Electronics.

      As a drone of course.

      I don't think anything has improved since then.

      1. It's a cliché but parents (and grandparents) really are the most important part in the pre-school years.
        Our youngest grandchild enjoyed books before she could walk and used to trundle around on the sit-on scooter with a small trailer of books on the back.
        She could do basic reading before she attended pre-school.

        1. That's the way to do it. I feel guilty that my job took me out of the country for more than half of the time, but back then I just thought the more I earn the better off the kids. Doesn't work like that though.

          1. Ours have been in Oz since 7, 5 and 3.

            Holidays there were great, teaching games: strategy, tactics, sacrifice for a winning position.
            The kids loved it and were very competitive.
            Cards, crib, chess, Mah Jong; you name it
            I had one rule: I gave them an opportunity to win, if they missed the chance: Kaput.
            I would explain why they made a mistake/what they had missed, and they hardly ever made the same error.

            I was always reminded of how my grandfather never ever LET me win and on the day that I finally did, he charged around the house, "the boy did it, the boy did it" he was absolutely delighted that I beat him on level terms.
            After that we played almost every night and if I won one in twenty he'd probably had had an extra sherry.
            The downside was that I hardly ever completed my homework so school marks fell.

          4. Mine love it, because I tell them that it’s hard to beat grandpa and when they do they celebrate. And so do I.
            Even silly things:
            like playing Snap
            or body-surfing further without a board.
            or staring at each other without smiling.
            Winning isn’t everything, but by goodness it’s fun when you do against a competitive old man.

    2. All the schools in which I was a pupil or a teacher encouraged reading for pleasure and had school and house libraries with a selection of fiction and non-fiction. I used to read to my classes and this encouraged my pupils to read for themselves. Saki, Roald Dahl, Somerset Maugham always went down well.

      The half hour reading session at bedtime with our sons was greatly enjoyed by parents and children alike. I read to one boy in English; Caroline read to the other in French. When a book was finished we swapped boys.

      At Allhallows we noted the irony of the fact that the careers section of the school library was immediately adjacent to fiction.

      1. We had a library in both my primary and secondary schools, but that was all. We could borrow books or not as we wished. I have always read (it provided an escape from my everyday life), but nobody "promoted" it.

        1. Similar here with local library, librarian would let me borrow books from adult section. Don't seem to see local 2nd hand book sales any more, power of Amazon perhaps.

      2. "When a book was finished we swapped boys." For girls, Rastus? Heavens to Betsy! Lol.

    3. We were given the regular novels to read, some excellent ones, but to be read in out of school hours.

      1. I had a reading list before I went to university, but I'd hardly class it "reading for pleasure"!

        1. This was grammar school. Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, Brave New World, Rites of Passage, 2 Dickens, Romeo and Juliet. Plus others. I was addicted to reading early, but for some reason I haven't been able to get my 2 children to commit to it.

          2. Some years ago, I was in Verona on business. Over the w/e a couple of us wandered around. We came to this house, typical terrace type, which was labelled as the Romeo and Juliet house where Romeo died falling off the balcony. We though, why not? So took the tour. First of all the balcony was low. Anyone falling off it might have broken an ankle or a wrist, but that would have been about it.

            There was a bronze statue of Juliet in the garden. It was well weathered except for the right breast. Then we saw a couple of young Italian lads came in who took in in turns to have their photo taken with their arms around the Juliet statue – one arm round the shoulders and the other one "polishing" the right breast. That's how we knew how it became shiny!

          4. Shakespeare, to me, has always meant some memorable quotes buried in incomprehensible blank verse. It did provide entertainment though, especially when one likely lad stuck his hand up in the middle of reading Othello, and very seriously enquired as to the meaning of "tupping". That produced a reply of, "You know very well what it means, boy", which of course produced a lot of smirks, and then a general telling off from the elderly English teacher.

          5. It was standard fare for the annual elocution prize at school and I can still recall fairly long sections from memory.
            Grizzly would hate my BBC standard accent from the 50's but it won the prize every year but one.
            The one was my first year and my mother was absolutely furious that I hadn't bothered to compete.

    4. At my school it was "read that" "Why?" "Because I said so" ……………..end of

      1. Ditto.Except that is the senior common room, we had our own library filled with books various boys had left behind. I don't think the staff ever looked at them. That's where I first read the Kama Sutra and the Kinsey Report, both a both a bit eye opening for a typical '50's teenager. More fun than A Level double maths though.

      2. Have a great memory from English Lit teacher, she was quite young, couldn't keep order. I mentioned a book I'd been reading (may have been Catch-22, I bought it at a jumble sale for a few pennies), after that we would talk about books/reading, she even lent me some of her own books.

        1. I enjoyed Catch-22 and read it again often.
          I suspect it was a foundation for why enjoyed M.A.S.H. so much

          1. I think Heller wrote another book, not as good imo. Catch-22 based on his own wartime experiences, although the location in Catch-22 is imaginary.

  101. It ain't over yet…

    Lord Justice Bean was quick to point out that this hearing was not about the merits of the government's policy of where to house asylum seekers – in hotels or elsewhere.

    Now that we've addressed that, our next few posts will look at the reasons the Court of Appeal judges gave for overturning the temporary injunction issued by the High Court last week.

    The High Court judge who issued the injunction made a number of errors that "undermine his decision", they said.

    • Asylum seeker accommodation capacity: The Court of Appeal judges said the previous judge's approach "ignores the obvious consequence" that closing one site means capacity is needed elsewhere. This may incentivise local planning authorities who wish to remove asylum accommodation from their area to apply to the court urgently before capacity elsewhere is used up, they said.

    • Incentivisation of protests: The judges noted that legal counsel for Epping Forest District Council had said protests acted as a trigger for their request for an injunction. The judges said that if protests enhance the case for a planning injunction, "this runs the risk of acting as an impetus or incentive for further protests, some of which may be disorderly, around asylum accommodation". There is also a risk of "encouraging further lawlessness", which the judge "does not appear to have considered".

    • Alternative measures: The judge failed to consider whether there would have been alternative measures to mitigate the disruption, the Court of Appeal judges said. These could include use of police powers under the Public Order Act 1986, or an application by the council to restrain unlawful protests.

    • Hotel actions weren't deliberate: The judges said the High Court judge was wrong to find that Somani Hotels had acted deliberately in not seeking permission for change of use under planning law. They said his discretion in the case was "seriously flawed by his erroneous reliance" on a deliberate breach as a significant factor in favour of granting the temporary injunction.

    • Temporary nature of injunction: The judges said very little weight was given to the desirability of preserving the status quo. The risk of injustice to the asylum seekers by being removed from the hotel weeks before the trial was to be heard in October "seems to have had oddly little resonance", they said.

    They concluded that while the judge had lawfully taken into account the fear of crime in Epping, he had failed to take into account that the order could encourage protest and was not necessary given that the council's full claim against the hotel would be heard within weeks.

    But don't forget – this isn't the end of the matter. Epping Forest District Council's claims that the hotel is operating unlawfully – denied by its owners – will be heard at a full hearing listed for mid-October.

    So in about seven weeks expect to hear more developments as the matter is addressed in court once more.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1ej52299lqt

    2. " Hotel actions weren't deliberate: The judges said the High Court judge was wrong to find that Somani Hotels had acted deliberately in not seeking permission for change of use under planning law. They said his discretion in the case was "seriously flawed by his erroneous reliance" on a deliberate breach as a significant factor in favour of granting the temporary injunction."
      Are they really stating that a hotel business has no duty to know about regulations such as planning permission for change of use? The majority shareholder may well be a protected Bame, but ignorance is no excuse.

      2. I thought that some the items above were rather more personal opinions and suppositions than legal judgements – but what do any of us know?

    3. The judge that ruled asylum seekers can stay in the Bell Hotel in Epping Forest is a member of the Society for Labour Lawyers

    4. There is so much in this that is very, very bad in many, many ways. This, for example:

      "incentivisation of protests: The judges noted that legal counsel for Epping Forest District Council had said protests acted as a trigger for their request for an injunction. The judges said that if protests enhance the case for a planning injunction, "this runs the risk of acting as an impetus or incentive for further protests, some of which may be disorderly, around asylum accommodation". There is also a risk of "encouraging further lawlessness", which the judge "does not appear to have considered".

      As said elsewhere, the gloves are now off.

      1. Summer months almost over, opopanax…could be a dry and sunny autumn. If people are angry, disaffected, they'll turn out all weathers, although possibly not in 6' snow drifts.

      3. Given that illegally entering this country and that aiding and abetting a crime is also a crime, why is protest 'lawless' compared to that?

        Housing the gimmigrants is illegal. Not removing them is a crime.

        They're criminals. Get rid of them – and the Home office.

          2. Quite popular here. I was lucky, I was introduced to it in Tokyo (another company paid adventure) 40 odd years ago.

          3. I like all Japanese food and drink, and also Japanese art (woodprints) even more so, have a few treasured ones. I’ve never visited, I envy you – be interested to read any posts from you about your time in Tokyo? Thx jack.

      2. It stands for Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor, Herr Oberst, and is an anti-depressant pill. I used to suffer from depression greatly and my GP tried me on various anti-depressants before I found one (the SSRI one) which worked. I still take SSRIs, but have had no desire to go around mass shooting anyone.

        2. I reckon your final sentence spot on, Elsie. Could it be the SSRIs enhance the anger some people already feel at various issues today's society.

  103. Just to say I have copied sosraboc's and elsie's good wishes to Sue E and sent them via direct messaging on Twitter (X) to Sue. I c&p'd only two messages because it gets a little complicated as the system reveals behind-the-scenes-formatting which I then have remove and if the message is too long the cursor disappears which involves a little cursing on my part…!

    2. Very well done pm – if you get the chance please tell her from me (and the rest of us Wordlers) that she's very much missed at the Five O'Clock Club and we cant wait to see her back!

    5. I've got text from Sue, she's in Ward A9 Hammersmith Hospital. Have replied and sent everyone's love.

      P.S. Hope between us we can get updates – I'm not sure how everyone else is contacting her (apart from pm who has said above!).

  104. Tonight's Prom has been interrupted by a protest. I couldn't hear what was being shouted from the gallery but I'm sure we can all guess.

    The orchestra was about five minutes into the first piece when it began. There was a delay of about ten minutes while the protestors were removed. The order of the concert has been changed. The second piece was to be Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto but Katia Buniatishvili got the wobbles and the orchestra is currently playing the last scheduled piece, Dvorak's 6th symphony.

    1. Pity about Katia, she is a spectacular pianist. Another some time child prodigy. Her Rhapsody in Blue is quite something, her fingers are literally a blur in places. It's on Youtube.

  105. Oh well days work done, feet up resting my annoying back pain. Feeding the neighbours (who live in France) huge pond fish, watering what's left of the green house tommies. Cooking our usual Friday dinner, fish chips and lovely minted peas. Washed up tidying the kitchen. Not properly proud of it. But someone has to do it 🤗😉 just making an excuse for another early night 😊😄.
    I hope our Susan is OK after her operation today.
    Our safety and future is still under threat from the unelected far left bandwagon in our own country. I can't believe what has happened under the auspicious effect of this repulsive, vile, hate filled misnomer of a government.
    Proms Mahlers fifth…. from Albert Hall, once mistaken for alah hall. When the steps were filled with kneeler's.
    Good night all Nottlers sleep well 😴

    1. Always remember that for everything happening now, the groundwork was put in place by Blair and the wrecking crew.

      1. And all those 'D' notices that he and his old flat mate often used to hide the dreadful deeds when they carried out their vile tasks. He should have been locked up and here we go again. Never learn anything from a the 'mistakes'.

      2. He's still at it, Tony Blair Institute website. Influencing future generations his stated aim.

          1. Isn’t he just, and by extension so are we his adoring fans….:-D…g’night opo likely see you tmrw x

          3. What a joke. We can think of a few alternative titles……see you tmrw, toddling off to cot now and taking my lousy sciatica with me….Kate x

    2. I have quite bad sciatica, Eddy…bedtime means hot water bottle to rest my leg on. Maybe hot water bottle help your back? good luck x

      1. I’ve done all that KJ thanks for the thought. I’m okay until I have to get out of bed and start moving around.
        I just have to keep taking paracetamol to ease the pain and otherwise try and keep still.
        😊

        1. Ouch, Eddy, sorry to read…have you tried Ibuprofen, I find it stronger than Paracetamol and a bit easier on stomach?, Kate x

    1. HMRC should be looking at this and the implications on the mortgage on the first property. If the arrangement is accepted then it will be open season for others to act likewise.

      1. GBN headline just now, KP – faces ethics investigation over '£40k tax dodge'. We'll see how that pans out.

    3. I think she looks pretty bloody hot in that picture – that is one hell of a makeover!

      1. AI, G4..we all should be so lucky, lucky, lucky. Anyhow, being investigated now so we'll see how that goes.

        1. Blimey KJ, if it's that good I'll have to try it myself – although I already look exactly like Brad Pitt…..

          What are you being investigated for?

          1. Not me (I wasn't sufficiently clear, bad habit, sorry)….it's Ange who's being investigated by ethics committee, doubtless slap on wrist and small fine if anything. I have a bad feeling Blair and his Institute behind this lot, longevity and all that….

          2. The problem I have with Ange is that she should be very easy to like and admire, given her back story and all that she has achieved (which is quite monumental, she's the deputy PM ffs!!).
            There are possibly (?) elements of snobbery/misogyny in play but she really doesnt help her own cause.

          3. She should, I agree…perhaps power gone to her head? Any luck, she’ll at least set up against Sickear (btw I love the pic of her in what looks like a pedalo, sucking on a vape…)

          4. Hope it’s another of your jokes you looking like BP…I look nothing like Jolie thankfully. More ageing Audrey Hepburn.

          5. Ageing Audrey Hepburn is not bad!!

            And I was lying about BP, however I'm regularly mistaken for George Clooney….

          8. And I’m not being investigated, Rayner of the Vapes is tho’. Slap on the wrist if owt…’night G4, cot calling x Kate

      2. They've photoshopped out the Hapsburg jaw. But I guess you like that kinda gal, GGGG :-))

        1. Chacun – I have a bit of that in my big toe – occasionally it can be quite painful!

    4. Smells all wrong. I can’t see how she cam avoid a CGT liability (and a contingent IHT liability if she dies within the next 7 years)

      1. She doesn't intend to die. And "us Labours" are above the law, as we see time, after time, after time. You pathetic little nobodies vill do as ve say, not as ve do.

    5. There were too many unknowns about the Angela Rayner stamp duty saga so I have deleted my musings…

      I just wonder who was left with the ownership of the Ashton house after she took her name off the title.

  108. We don’t tend to eat out a lot, so it wasn’t something at the top of my mind; but my boss suggested i took my boy out for a meal tonight, so we could chat. Just had a lovely three hours with him, getting to know him after his being away for months and months and months in Wales.

    1. If Farage is trying to attract the Muslim vote, he is seriously deluded. No Muslim would ever vote Reform, despite Zia Yusuf being Muslim.

      1. Zia Yusuf has Nigel Farage by the short and curlies. I wonder how long it will be before we know what the hold he has on him is?

        2. Farage comes out of the City of London remember – whoever his bosses are, they are probably the same as the bosses of Zia Yusuf.

    3. No need for concern dear heart.

      Just like the rest of them they will sell us out.

      Remember those sun lit uplands?

      Those that promised it are enjoying them.

    4. Tine, there is nowhere in that piece where he says that. Look carefully. The brackets make all the difference.

      1. What he says at 0.54 is essentially what is described in the transcript headline. Square brackets traditionally add or change words to provide context. For a headline, if the words didn't include the words in brackets it would be meaningless – i.e. morally WHAT is wrong?

        He is talking about opposing Islam by means of fighting it as described. As a headline, which often condenses words into the barest of meanings, I don't personally have a problem with it.

        I have edited this a bit – I don't think the headline is meant to convey that opposing Islam as a religion is morally wrong. It is said in a specific context and uses a bit of licence.

  111. Oscar, next to me on the couch, twitching and softly barking in his sleep. Gawd, how I love him.

  112. Well, chums, my bedtime has arrived once again. Good Night all, sleep well, and I hope to see you all again tomorrow.

    2. The banquet would be all the better without Ed Davey etc. I can't imagine Trump caring whether they attend or not.

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