Sunday 24 May: Lockdown is killing Rolls-Royce and the Government piles on the pain

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/05/23/letters-lockdown-killing-rolls-royce-government-piles-pain/

956 thoughts on “Sunday 24 May: Lockdown is killing Rolls-Royce and the Government piles on the pain”

  1. Good morning all.
    I see there are fresh allegations against Dom Cummings. The MEEJAH and Establishment are certainly out for blood!

    1. Good morning, Bob.

      Yes, they appear to find another alleged[?] ‘breach’
      on the hour….every hour!

      1. If Cummings is forced to resign, then perhaps Kinnoch Junior ought to be sacked from Parliament too.

          1. To be honest, I thought Kinnock’s trip to his parents reasonable and the response a gross over-reaction, saying as much on several forums.
            And I feel the same about Dom Cummings too.

          3. As far as I can glean from the papers, Cummings and his wife were trying to arrange childcare for their four year-old son. His wife had come down with the virus and he was about to, so he wanted to be near his sister. An entirely human reaction, and as a parent one I can sympathise with. At least it was more ‘essential’ than a trip to one’s country home (as per the former Chief Medical Officer of Scotland) or a simple bit of rumpy-pumpy (Professor Lockdown).

            The Left will be absolutely beside itself at the prospect of taking down Boris’ right-hand man and one of the key architects of Brexit. But apart from who he is, I despise the finger-wagging, judgemental attitude that this crisis has brought out in some people. We are all struggling to do the best for our ourselves and our families in these extremely difficult times. Government rules keep changing and in some cases seem entirely arbitrary. Why is sunbathing verboten one day, but encouraged by SAGE the next? Let he who is without sin…

          4. It is the prerogative of the bloody-minded Englishman to flout the law when he thinks it is right and believes he can get away with it. Like the “what did you do in the war, Grandad?” anecdotes, we all have our “how did we flout the lockdown?” tales.

          5. When laws are pointless and unreasonable then they should be ignored. The police have spent weeks persecuting joggers and sunbathers, rather than catching actual criminals. We should have been actively encouraged to take care of our physical and mental well-being via fresh air, sunshine and exercise, but instead we are forced to huddle in our homes.

            The Government should treat us like adults now and let us make our own decisions. Those who wish to stay in their homes should be allowed to do so (but not at public expense). The rest of us should be free to live our lives as we see fit.

          6. When laws are pointless and unreasonable then they should be ignored. The police have spent weeks persecuting joggers and sunbathers, rather than catching actual criminals. We should have been actively encouraged to take care of our physical and mental well-being via fresh air, sunshine and exercise, but instead we are forced to huddle in our homes.

            The Government should treat us like adults now and let us make our own decisions. Those who wish to stay in their homes should be allowed to do so (but not at public expense). The rest of us should be free to live our lives as we see fit.

          8. Lead item on the ‘news’ yesterday evening, FFS. The BBC and Sly (and probably others) are beneath contempt. DC is of course a bit of a maverick, and clever with it. No wonder their dislike of him runs so deep, particularly in view of his successful ‘Leave’ campaign which must have got right up their noses. No doubt lots of fun to be had destroying someone of his calibre. (I know he’s a total scruff-bag but in his case I can live with that.)

            ‘Morning, BoB.

    2. If the SNP are calling for him to be sacked, then there is absolutely no question.

      He should stay.

    3. 319543+ up ticks,
      Morning Bob,
      Chaff, dropped over the English Channel to conceal the daily establishment treacherous actions in collusion with the french.

    4. The police state strikes again. Leave him alone he did what any parent would do. he did not break the law.

      1. I agree, JN. From whst I have heard he did have “reasonable excuse” for his actions.

        1. The socially concerned neighbour. Thank goodness DC didn’t spill red wine on the sofa.

    5. Morning Bob -D Cummings should come clean about his movements and not allow any attempt at covering up the misdeeds which is the usual political attempt at dealing with the accusations. If he told the truth I think he would get a telling off and then allowed to get on with his job.. However if his supporters are lying or distorting the truth it will be a different outcome.
      It must also be remembered that his enemies could be finding people prepared to make false or distorted allegations about a rival politician’s activities. Politics is a despicable business.

  2. The new authoritarian State’s dream has come true thanks to the repulsive word ‘lockdown’: they’ve made us all prisoners. 23 May 2020.

    But now the new Strong State, growing in our midst for decades, has finally become powerful enough to emerge in all its naked nastiness. Or rather, all the proper institutions of a civil society have grown so weak that the Strong State can now get its way.

    The married family, the independent middle-class, able to make a decent living on the basis of hard-won qualifications, the political parties, Parliament itself, the Opposition, the Monarchy, the Armed Forces, the Church (pathetically anxious to close itself), the Civil Service, most of the media, the BBC, are just husks of what they were 50 years ago.

    Morning everyone. Mr Hitchens is wrong. There is as yet no Strong State. That is yet to come though he is correct in that all the institutions of the Old British State are now just rotten and corrupt shadows of what they used to be. The worm of Cultural Marxism has eaten away their insides and hollowed them out. They can still function after a fashion but the spirits of Freedom, Christianity, Patriotism and Democracy that used to animate them and give them life have been removed so that all that is left is the dead hand of Bureaucracy. If all that is required is pencil pushing, they can manage that, but anything requiring innovation or original thinking is way beyond them. We can see this in the response to the virus; a litany of truly staggering incompetence that makes the Somme or the Dardanelles look like roaring successes, and which only twenty years ago would have led to the fall of the Government. This Society, and the larger Civilisation of which it is a part, are in all meaningful respects dead. It cannot even muster the strength to defend its own children let alone its borders. It is a land of appeasement; of slaves ripe for new overseers!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8351423/PETER-HITCHENS-new-authoritarian-States-dream-come-true.html

    1. 319543+up ticks, up ticks,
      Morning As,
      The beauty of the whole treacherous campaign is the herds participation on a regular basis for four decades plus.
      Supporting plastic bent politico’s and parties of proven treachery as in eu assets, and still at it.
      Current governance politico’s
      = craven image’s.

      Peoples of a free speaking decent nature proven UK patriots castigated
      and suppressed,tagged as far right racist, even incarcerated.

      The setting is in place along with the
      instruction manual and the feast to be
      of their choosing on the menu.
      Hail the new overseers, the new morning prayers will be extended to
      five times a day.

      1. 319543+up ticks,
        o2o,
        Will a chopping block replace the speakers chair to deal with any rhetorical opposition ?

      1. ‘Morning, Johnny.

        Hollyhocks always remind me of my grandparents’ house outside Old Shoreham.

        1. It’s “Buenas tardes”, Peddy. (Sorry, I just couldn’t resist that.)

          1. Not at all, Elsie. I perfected my German by getting friends to correct me.

  4. I have always found The Times to be a quite uninspired newspaper. Far more tedious is The Sunday Telegraph, the reading of which is the equivalent of watching paint dry.

    For the last 20 years of my living in the UK I took The Daily Telegraph, Monday to Saturday, and the Sunday Times every Sunday. These were — at the time — the most stimulating reads among the popular newsprint available. Strange, I always thought, how one publication could get in right in the week but so wrong on a Sunday, whilst the other camp did quite the opposite.

    Living in Sweden I no longer take The Sunday Times since I would have to buy an expensive package that includes its inferior daily version. Consequently I purchase a virtual edition of the Daily Telegraph. Unfortunately this package includes a weekly copy of the tired, vapid, insipid and feeble Sunday Telegraph too [a perusal of today’s flat and dull letters selection clearly illustrates that].

    If only it were possible to purchase a package the included The Daily Telegraph (even in its inferior post-Conrad Black guise) together with The Sunday Times. I’m sure that would make me much less of a curmudgeon.

    1. I cannot read fully any of them. The DT with Black and Hastings was a very good paper.

      I feel your pain. ( did i just say that)

    3. ‘Morning, Grizz. Thr dead tree press is in its death throes. How I wish I could say the same about our bitter and twisted state broadcaster.

    4. I used to buy the Telegraph, then cut down to the Tel on Saturday (available at a kiosk in Karl Johan, Oslo), then cut it out completely. It’s just drivel – look at the haedlines on the web, and you struggle to find a news article amongst all the drivel about holidays, clothing, and Bryony Gordon. Not worth any money.
      I just quit taking the Private Eye, as it is unfunny, one-sided (they used to mock everybody) and, frankly, depressing. They couldn’t stop taking money from my credit card, apparently, so I cancelled the card & got a new one.
      Otherwise, I look at the headlines available to me from the Telegraph and others, read what comments are visible, and pay for 3 Weegie papers – Aftenposten, Budstikka and Laagendalsposten. The latter amuses – it has headlines like “Man found drunk on bus”, so is always an entertaining read! Last week, apparently Gry got a new job in Oslo – amazing!
      :-))
      Morning, Grizz. Hadn’t noticed the curmudgeon, maybe you just blend in nicely here?

  5. Morning all

    SIR – The announcement by Rolls-Royce of 9,000 job losses (report, May 21) should set alarm bells ringing. Aerospace is one of the industries where the UK does have genuine world-beating capability – yet it is treated, alongside its sister sector, civil aviation, with indifference by this Government. This is exemplified by the ludicrous idea of introducing quarantine for international travellers at a time when other countries are looking to open up again.

    What is needed is a coherent and visible plan to kickstart the economy, support key sectors and get people moving again, rather than endless sloganising and knee-jerk reactions.

    Neil Cottrell

    Maidenhead, Berkshire

    SIR – On May 20 the BBC reported on the job losses at Rolls-Royce, describing them as the worst event in the company’s history.

    However, I recall that the whole business failed in the Seventies and had to be nationalised. Surely that was the worst point in the company’s history. It was then stated that Rolls-Royce was in trouble because airlines were not buying engines. Anyone who follows Rolls-Royce knows that it sells engines at a loss and makes its profit on service and parts contracts. So the problem is that it is not getting any service-and-parts income because engines aren’t racking up hours during lockdown.

    Rupert Mindelsohn

    London W6

    SIR – That Rolls-Royce is to axe 9,000 jobs is a national disgrace. Surely, in the grip of a pandemic, previous decisions to allow China to build our nuclear-power reactors should now be seen in a different light.

    There is a skilled workforce available at Rolls-Royce that can build smaller nuclear reactors. Using this workforce should be a top priority for the Government.

    We would save jobs and have control over our reactors and safety. To allow a skilled British workforce to be thrown away while giving jobs to China at this time is appalling.

    Carole Lis

    Stanmore, Middlesex

    1. I wonder in Carole Lis is aware the Rolls Royce Associates already has designs, based on their submarine reactors, for small local reactors that could be installed in local combined heat & power facilities?

    2. Rolls-Royce have fingers in many pies. Aero engines, industrial gas turbines, diesel engines, nuclear reactors… it’s not just one company. Which part is losing jobs?

  6. SIR – On this day 79 years ago, HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy, was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck in the Denmark Strait, south of Iceland.

    A shell penetrated Hood’s magazine, which exploded, breaking the ship in two. She sank in minutes. Only three crew members out of 1,414 survived. Among those who drowned were Captain Ralph Kerr and the senior flag officer commanding the battle squadron, Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland. This was a tremendous blow at a time when the country was experiencing a series of defeats on the war front.

    This year marks the centenary of Hood’s commissioning in 1920. She was the largest and most powerful ship yet built for the Royal Navy.

    A yearly commemoration service is held at St John’s Church in Boldre in Hampshire, where Vice-Admiral Holland lived and worshipped. This year’s service will be virtual and streamed online, but relatives of the ship’s crew will still contribute to it.

    John James

    Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire

    1. Hood was a Battlecruiser, designed in the early 20th century to be better armed than anything faster and faster than anything better-armed. Unfortunately, her thinner deck armour was no protection against a fast modern battleship like Bismarck.

  8. Good morning from a Saxon Queen with Longbòw and Axe.
    A cold and breezy start with the sun trying to break through.

    I shall make some more tea.
    Unfortunately my husband seems to have a problem with the foot I think
    It’s gout. It looks very inflamed and he cannot walk on it.
    I’ve been putting anti inflammatory cream on the area and icepacks, he cannot have
    anti inflammatory tablets because he suffers from high blood pressure
    I would rather not contact a doctor next week and besides they’re all obsessed with the Chinese thing.
    Not quite sure what else to do with it. He seems fine otherwise and is reading lots of books .

  10. Did Stephen Kinnock have to resign for visiting his dad?

    I thought he would have been a bit more careful, the family has a history of falling for second waves.

    2. Yo sos

      You should know by now, any:

      Rules
      Regulations
      Edicts
      Information
      Decisions
      etc

      Posted/produced by the EUSSR was only meant to allpy to UK

    3. The purpose of the EU inspections is not to inspect, but to protect those who potentially could be blamed.

      As it is, Barnier, as a eurocrat could never, ever face sanction for his decisions in office.

    1. So that’s where the men in big military hats who surround Young Un got the idea from…..

  13. During a hard day’s work on the farm, one of the day labourers needs to take a leak. He goes to the edge of the field and pulls out his dick.

    Just then, a bee lands on his glans, and before he can react, the bee stings him! The pain is unbearable, but the labourer remembers what his mother once told him, Buttermilk is the best tonic for a bee sting!

    So he runs to the dairy house and sticks his dick in a bucket of fresh buttermilk. At that moment, the farmer’s daughter comes into the dairy house. She is frozen by the sight.

    The labourer, mortified asks, “What’s the matter? Haven’t you ever seen one of these before?”

    “Oh, I’ve seen one before,” replies the farmer’s daughter, “but this is the first time I’ve ever seen one being re-loaded!”

        1. Certainly do thanks! Makes me feel quite normal, in these very odd times!

          5. I am obliged to my learned friend for his characteristically apt intervention.

          7. Here, here! Where, where?

            It’s ok, I’m self-isolating in a Flowton loony-bin (for the normal abnormal).

          10. Never understood why Brown Jobs want to fly aeroplanes when there is a service dedicated to doing that….!

          11. Same as the Rum, Bum and Baccy Boys – they all want part of the superior action.

          12. There was a car sticker in the ealry ’80s, Fly Navy, Sail Army, Walk Sideways.

          16. ‘Makes me feel quite normal,……’

            Sue, what on earth makes you think any of us
            are normal?

            Good morning.

    2. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOM!

      I see you’ve started the day as you mean to go on. 😉

      1. Vielen Dank, Peddy.

        The Irish wish someone they don’t care for, a hope that, “They die, roaring.”

        I shall die roaring – with laughter, I hope.

    1. Hmm
      During June it is the last chance to extend the transition and delay a full Brexit,the ‘Rona has revitalised the Pro-EU brigade,without Cummings there to stiffen spines?????

  15. Morning again

    SIR – The Rev P J Walter (Letters, May 17) will be horrified to learn that I have not only not self-isolated during the coronavirus outbreak, but have also continued to work on the front line as a London bus driver, and travelled daily by train.

    I am 74. I am mindful of the risks and obey the procedures introduced to protect passengers and colleagues. Unlike Mr Walter, I live alone and have nobody on hand to help. My immediate neighbours choose to ignore me, and in any case they have seven children between them to look after. My son has not been able to meet me, as he too has been working throughout, while my 70-year-old sister suffers from multiple sclerosis and has self-isolated for over two months already.

    I count myself very fortunate to be allowed to continue working. I miss going to church more than anything and I need a haircut, but I am content not to socialise generally until everyone can. However, I am soon due to take my summer holiday. I will spend this at home and probably not speak to a soul for three weeks. I think many healthy over-70s are neither selfish nor irresponsible and are legitimately resisting self-isolation if it cuts them off totally from the world.

    Peter Clark

    Canterbury, Kent

    SIR – The Rev P J Walter unfairly accuses me of either missing or dismissing the deaths of 24,000 people over 65 because I “swim and socialise with friends”.

    Perhaps he himself would care to ponder the appalling fact that many of these deaths have taken place in care homes, rather than make the ageist assertion that, because of these tragic deaths, a whole generation should be kept behind closed doors (often, as in my case, alone) until – when?

    I don’t presume to speak on behalf of every person my age, or to instruct my contemporaries on what risks they should take. However, those of us who have reached our eighth decade and are fortunate enough to be in good health are capable of making our own decisions about how we spend the years left to us. Keeping active and socially engaged is important for mental and physical health, and for one’s immunue system.

    Jaqui Taugwalder-Hill

    Middle Barton, Oxfordshire

    1. Fortunately, I dd not see the letter from Mr Walter.

      But he is clearly yet another of the sanctimonious, finger-wagging, snitches that have crawled out of the woodwork since the quarantine malarky started.
      They make me sick – the whole damn lot of them.

      1. At least he likely doesn’t have a Tazer, Bill, or he could go around zapping people for disobeying his rules.

      2. Here you go, Bill

        10th May

        SIR – I am shocked that many over-70s appear to be happy to remain confined to their homes so that younger people can go to work free from the fear of infecting.

        Should I and my elderly friends not be allowed to go for our daily swim, attend the gym, employ our young personal trainers, meet friends for lunch or go to our hairdressers, beauticians and chiropractors? Retired people are an important market.

        On top of that, we sing in choirs, we volunteer in schools and we are the churchwardens who keep our churches clean and cared for. We volunteer as librarians and childminders. We should not be separated from society – unless we wish to be. It is our decision.

        Jaqui Taugwalder-Hill

        17th May

        SIR – I am over 70 years of age, as is my wife, and we remain content to stay at home. We do not see this as a surrender of our civic rights, but as a precaution to keep us safe and free from Covid-19.

        Jaqui Taugwalder-Hill (Letters, May 10), who wishes to go swimming and go out to lunch and enjoy seeing her friends as she did before the lockdown, may care to ponder the fact that, of the 27,000 deaths from Covid-19 up to April 24, 24,000 of them occurred among those over the age of 65.

        Those under the age of 45 accounted for just 332 deaths – so it seems reasonable that we who are vulnerable should remain indoors and allow those at low risk to pick up the threads of normal life.

        No doubt anyone in our age group who decides to go out and socialise and is unfortunate enough to contract the virus will expect the NHS and its frontline staff to risk their lives treating them.

        Rev P J Walter
        Hay-on-Wye, Breconshire

        The Rev (who lives in that trendy village so beloved by Guardian and BBC poseurs) fails to understand the difference between the likelihood of catching the virus and being made ill by it.

        1. Ah, Hay on Wye, the bookshop town that can’t decide whether it’s in England or Wales. Must be a bundle of fun deciding which lockdown rules to apply.

          1. Whichever are the easiest to observe and provide the maximum freedom, of course.

  16. I suspect that the cries for Dominic Cummings to resign, at least the ones from the Tory benches, are motivated by sheer bitchiness. Since he was brought in, Cummings has done more to get us free from the European nightmare than all those sorry bastards put together managed to achieve in four years.

    W⚓s the lot of them.

    2. 319543+ up ticks,
      Afternoon Dm,
      They are ALL in a close shop set up
      ersatz brexitexit tory party & ersatz opposition, libs & labs ALL protecting political lifestyles.
      Kent Walton would be proud of this phony political wrestling.

    3. If only he and Farage could have worked together rather than against each other!

      1. 319543+ up ticks,
        Afternoon R,
        Correct me if I am wrong but did that farage chap not ask
        for a delay extension some time back ?
        The way they ALL mesh together we will be back in before we are fully out.
        There was nothing to negotiate
        at the outset so ersatz tory party may had a 9 month delay to get minimal damage to eu
        established, revealing and triggering treachery in the raw.
        There is NO opposition, there is only pro eu politico’s and
        mercenaries.

    4. And all the illegal boatpeople landing everyday in Kent , and the millions who didn’t self-isolate when they flew into airports after lockdown, what of them ?

      1. Absolutely with you there Johnny! Have just said the same to my old man – and we had such high hopes and confidence in Boris. I am very tired of listening to the high-pitched squealing of the hypocritical Left and the useless meeja!

        1. Boris needs to pull a rabbit out of his hat pretty soon, or he’ll just be another bigmouth.
          Problem is, he’s different after being ill. Death-threatening illnessses do that – saw it in my Father, see it in myself. The drive goes… :-((

          1. That’s why he needs to keep Cummings! He has the drive and vision to keep Boris going forward!

          2. The situation needs managed. Maybe a showy firing of Cummings, then a quiet reinstatement shortly after, a la Mandelson.
            But it needs political smarts! Not what we see recently frrom the Tories – more like political smarties.

          3. Cummings is not a politician. He holds no elected position. As far as I know, he is not even a member of the Civil Service. Actually, I don’t know who or what organisation employs him. But a sacking might temporarily satisfy most of those calling for his blood. He could then carry on ‘advising’ the Government in an unofficial capacity, being employed by another ‘cover’ employer, until such time as he has completed his penance, and is returned to an official position, à la Mandelson. Job done.

            Or – give him a peerage.

      2. I’ve been finished with Boris for a long time; he has proved a disappointment. Dead in a ditch? He should have been.

    6. It’s political expediency.

      The public will complain as they’ve lost out due to lcokdown. He hasn’t so they see that as intriniscally unfair.

      Those politicians publicly calling for his removal are just looking for their own careers. I doubt personally if they care. They’re just playing their usual petty games.

      As it is, Cummings could be sacked and then come back. Labour had form this this machination with the corruption sewage that is Mandelson.

  17. So who do the virtuous Left wheel out to pour scorn on Cummings?
    Alastair Campbell, you couldn’t make it up.

    1. What is it makes the high hideyins think the rules don’t apply to them? If they are supposed to be leaders, then they have to lead, and the best way is by example. The man is clearly a complete cnut, and should be banished to the wilderness as an example to all the other cnuts who say one thing and do something else entirely different.
      Boris will have to think for himself, and get his own backbone.
      What a shower.

    2. I had the misfortune to hear that disgusting piece of [expletive deleted] Campbell pontificating on the BBC yesterday – a man who should have been tried for lying to Parliament and the British public. If he is against Cummings [who frankly should be sacked for his dress sense], then I’m supporting Cummings!!

    3. What is it makes the high hideyins think the rules don’t apply to them? If they are supposed to be leaders, then they have to lead, and the best way is by example. The man is clearly a complete cnut, and should be banished to the wilderness as an example to all the other cnuts who say one thing and do something else entirely different.
      Boris will have to think for himself, and get his own backbone.
      What a shower.

      1. But that makes me and I expect most of us on here cnuts because I would have done the same as him under those circumstances.

        1. Ah, but you weren’t telling people to not do so, under pain of arrest and tazering. That’s the difference. One rule for the elite, another rule for the others.
          As it happens, I would have done so as well. But then, I don’t react well to being told what to do in minute detail by some spotty youth, even if that youth has a gun.

          2. But he was advising a government, specifically the PM, who WAS telling – with threats of violence enacted by the police if you didn’t.

      2. I agree with your attitude but the reality is that these sewage have always thought themselves above the law. Didn’t they want compulsary identification – except for them and theirs?

        They have their own group who handle expenses despite being to all intents and purposes self employed. If you want to see utter corruption the reason Huawei are providing our 5G is because Mandelson has bribed people to ensure it. The whole edifice is riddled with jobs for the boys, back handers, fraud and theft.

        Cummings being disobedient is trivial against the putrid sewage that is government.

  19. Good morning, all. And (especially to irritate any bames looking in), a very Happy Empire Day to you.

    Gales still blowing here – sun making occasional brief appearance.

    1. Yes, Bill, I used to like that, as a youngster, to have the National Anthem played on my birthday, which I graciously allowed the Old Queen to share with me.

      1. My mother had hoped my son would arrive on 24th but he turned up 2 days earlier. Happy Birthday!

        1. I understand that when Her Majesty visited San Francisco, the route was lined with homosexuals who all wanted to see what a real Queen looked like.

      3. Happy Birthday, Tom!
        :-))
        Excellent planning!
        Ref my reply to Bill, does this make you my Brother?

    2. Empire Day – and my Brother’s birthday, too!
      How’s that for organisation?
      Morning, Bill.

  20. Just back from a pleasant, if slightly drizzly, walk for the paper.
    Dull and coolish too.

    1. Morning Bob,
      No rain here , dry as a bone countryside , the fire service even needed to bring in a helicopter from Wales with a water bucket , to assist the fire crews who are still attempting to contain the Wareham forest /heath fire .

      What a mess , rumour says a discarded BBQ was responsible.. This lockdown is an absolute farce . The carparks are topped up with visitors , and camperwagons are being moved on by the police !

      1. 15 April to 15 Oct we have outdoor fires banned, unless in a proper grilling place or at the beach. Too much forest to risk it going on fire. The ban gets extended if it’s really dry, too.
        Doesn’t stop wazzocks setting fire to things, though.

  21. ‘Morning All

    It’s time for the Sunday Quiz

    “In which pest-ridden third world shitehole was this photo taken in??”

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6da350e48715e10ecf1379ad5a469c5715478fd2/0_0_3000_2216/master/3000.jpg?width=1900&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=2d7e458e0f86682fcdb9d4ab6b419f78

    No cheating now,make your answer before going to the link to check

    https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/may/21/mind-the-gap-two-metres-apart-masked-ridley-road-hackney-a-photo-essay

    1. I am very sorry to say that most of us got it immediately before checking the link.

    2. Predicted it would be somewhere in London. I scanned the article – one woman shown already wears a full black mask anyway.

    3. Morning Rik. I know where it is, it was on Nottl earlier this week. I couldn’t read it or indeed look at it very long. It is too depressing!

    4. I see the incomers have caught on to the natives litter dropping habit.

    7. Morning Rik

      One of the photos …Anis Rahnn, civil enforcement officer

      “I feel that it’s very risky to come out to work, but I have to do it. I understand that not everyone is comfortable with wearing a mask because it’s not normal. But we have to do it, it’s very important. I personally feel like this country is not strict enough, I think things should be more like they are in Bangladesh where there are military conditions and the army is on the streets. Then maybe this situation would end sooner and less people would be dying.”

      What on earth is a civil enforcement officer?

      1. If he doesn’t approve of our version of lockdown then he can go to Bangladesh and experience the army enforcers. Just swap one filthy rundown hole for another.

      2. ‘Morning, Mags, in his case he is a Traffic Warden.

        Every prole in the Pubic Sector has to have a lofty title.

        1. “Revenue Protection Officer” = ticket inspector. (Or, to the older generation, a “Jumper”)…..

          3. He wouldn’t have a well paid local authority job. And “free” health care, and “free” edjacashun” for his dozen children.

    8. They’ll be opening up the sewers before long to make it REALLY feel/smell like home.

    10. I am very sorry to say that most of us got it immediately before checking the link.

  22. I hear in the background the beeboids going crazy about Cummings. Anything to have a go…

    Anyway, they can come after me – we had soldier neighbour IN THE HOUSE for a drink on Friday….. Totally illegal. We have cases packed for the inevitable arrest.

  24. Adolf Hitler’s ‘pet’ alligator Saturn dies in Moscow Zoo
    Saturn the alligator was given to the Soviet Union in 1946 and the myth was born that he was in the collection of the Nazi leader.
    An alligator believed to have once belonged to Adolf Hitler has died in Moscow Zoo.

    The zoo said the reptile, called Saturn, was around 84-years-old when he died on Friday.

    Saturn was born in Mississippi in the US and was later gifted to Berlin Zoo, from which he escaped when it was bombed in 1943.

    His whereabouts were unknown until 1946, when British soldiers found him and gave him to the Soviet Union.

    “Almost immediately, the myth was born that he was allegedly in the collection of Hitler and not in the Berlin Zoo,” Moscow Zoo said in a statement.

    But it added: “Animals are not involved in war and politics and it is absurd to blame them for human sins.”

    Moscow Zoo said it had the “honour” of keeping Saturn for 74 years and tried to look after him “with maximum care and caution”.

    https://news.sky.com/story/adolf-hitlers-pet-alligator-saturn-dies-in-moscow-zoo-11993817

    1. Saturn was born in Mississippi in the US and was later gifted to Berlin Zoo, from which he escaped when it was bombed in 1943.

      Was he trying to get to Switzerland? Did he disguise himself as a handbag or a pair of brogues?

      2. The fact that he couldn’t lose his American Accent whenever he said ‘Heil Hitler’ gave the game away during his daring escape…

      3. Shirley he was bound for the Caiman(sic) Islands to stash all that Nazi loot?😎

  25. Rambling rose, ‘Félicité Perpétue’, opening in the hawthorn tree. The elder bushes are in full flower now.

    1. Good morning Peddy

      Caroline makes the most delicious elderflower cordial and in the autumn, when the flowers have become berries, they are made into a thick, dark red liquid which, with added boiling water, becomes elderberry rob which very effectively staves off colds and flu.

      Indeed I am hoping that Caroline’s concoctions will prove to be the solution to the coronavirus.

      1. ‘Morning, Rastus.

        Years ago I used to make elderflower champagne which is very refreshing. Nowadays I leave the berries to the birds.

        1. Morning Mr Viking
          I do like elderflower juice very much but have never made it.

          1. ‘Morning, Ethel.

            You can make e-champagne or e-cordial. You have to collect the flowers well away from traffic fumes.
            They also give stewed gooseberries an extra oomph.

          2. Elderflower cordial is very easy. I freeze it in small amounts and use as flavouring or for poaching fruit during the winter.

  26. The fox trotting across the lawn outside my window with a squirrel in its gob has reminded me it’s breakfast time
    Later All

  27. Good morning from a Saxon Queen with Longbòw and Axe.
    A cold and breezy start with the sun trying to break through.

    I shall make some more tea.
    Unfortunately my husband seems to have a problem with the foot I think
    It’s gout. It looks very inflamed and he cannot walk on it.
    I’ve been putting anti inflammatory cream on the area and icepacks, he cannot have
    anti inflammatory tablets because he suffers from high blood pressure
    I would rather not contact a doctor next week and besides they’re all obsessed with the Chinese thing.
    Not quite sure what else to do with it. He seems fine otherwise and is reading lots of books .

    2. Cherries in any form, conserve, will help until they are in season.
      No salmon no beer.
      It’s the purines in some food and drinks that cause it. I sympathise, gout is so painful.

      1. Oh blast, we are having salmon for dinner tonight,
        I shall look out for other food items .

        1. My episode was brought on at Christmas two years ago.
          Salmon was one of the predominant factors. White wine still and sparkling and beer also.
          Google purins in food and gout.
          Pain killers were the only thing that helped me. It was only the big toe on my right foot.
          See if you can get hold of anything that contains cherries.
          Good luck.

          2. We usually keep some cherry conserve in a cupboard. It’s delicious anyway. 🍒🍒
            Touch wood I haven’t had a problem since.
            I sincerely hope that it works out well for you and hubby. It’s extremely painful.

          1. Morning . Ah, pate has been something We’ve been eating lots of atm,
            shall stop that then.

    3. Poor lad: a bad hoof is no fun at all. But having someone to make tea can be some recompense!
      Morning, Æ.

      1. Morning . It’s not nice at all but i hope the anti inflammatory gel works
        tablets would be better but he can’t take them. So it’s a case of
        drinking lots of tea and reading.

  28. Patel to close Channel loophole exposed by Farage that allows illegal migrants to reach UK. Sun, May 24, 2020.

    HOME Secretary Priti Patel is planning on changing international law in the Channel to close a loophole that is allowing hundreds of illegal migrants to cross over from France.

    This is of course utter nonsense. You cannot change International Law (even if it existed) by unilateral action. What looks to happen is that they have had the Fake Enquiry and the even Faker Excuses and they are now going to shut it down. I can find no mention in today’s papers about crossings and it looks like access to Nigel Farage’s twitter account via Google has been suspended so it’s the Big Silence from now on.

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1286196/migrant-news-priti-patel-english-channel-loophole-nigel-farace-dover-uk-latest

        2. I say, Conners.

          My UKIP membership needs renewing by 31.05.2020.

          Suggestions are welcome!

          1. If you are asking me if you should pay up, I would say renew it. A) it isn’t a fortune, B) we are going to need a party that will keep the feet of the lot in Westminster to the fire C) if UKIP goes there will be nobody left to fight for Brexit and D) I do think that the current interim leader is doing her best. It seems that they are genuinely trying to make it a grassroots party where the rank and file will have some input.

    2. 319543+ up ticks,
      As,
      IMO she is in-house opposition dishing out fodder for gullible fools.
      Also peoples should be aware that opposition can come in different forms
      some of a deceiving nature as in, party containment.
      Sh!te has been very near the face of the fan in regards to this channel treachery, only a matter of time so better to control the collision when it occurs, same with brexitexit.
      Trust NONE of the main players.

    1. Morning Bob. The only comforting thing about Sweden is that it is going down the tube faster than us!

    2. Was your post a twitter post?
      I keep getting a lot of blank posts on disqus at the moment

    3. Was your post a twitter post?
      I keep getting a lot of blank posts on disqus at the moment

        1. Not when you are aware of what’s coming. And tidy, straight into the hole in the ground. Job done.

    7. Was your post a twitter post?
      I keep getting a lot of blank posts on disqus at the moment

    8. A three year old?

      Dear god. Dismember, castrate, jam an adrenaline feed in him then flay him alive, then flog, then beat him to death. Rip out his tongue. Throw the remains in a lime pit

  31. From The Grimes yesterday – My Week – by Priti Patel*

    “Monday
    I’m standing on a chair in Downing Street, holding a stick and showing Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings a graph. It shows a line rising until mid-March, then plummeting. And it represents both house burglaries and workplace bullying in the Home Office. Both of which I have driven down.

    “Aren’t both just because everybody has been at home?” says the PM, narrowing his eyes.

    “But I’ve been working remotely,” I remind him, proudly.

    “We’ve got to get rid of her,” says Cummings.

    Also, I say, ignoring him, this week I’m announcing details of our post-Brexit immigration system. With which we are ending free movement to open up Britain to the world!

    “Bad sentence,” says Cummings. “Don’t tweet it.”

    “I already have!” I say.

    “Jeez,” he says. “How did we let that happen?”

    “I keep saying we’ve got to stay alert!” says the PM.

    “Oh don’t start all that again,” says Cummings.

    Tuesday
    Downing Street again. This time Rishi Sunak and Dominic Raab are also with us around the cabinet table. We’re discussing whether we should scrap the NHS surcharge for migrant health workers.

    “I just don’t think we can afford it,” says Rishi.

    “We’d be giving away nine hundred million thousand pounds,” I agree, although then I frown, because I might have got that wrong.

    “Hang on,” says Raab. “Don’t they give the money to us?”

    “Not taking money,” explains Rishi, “is the same thing as giving money. Mathematically.”

    Raab says he hadn’t understood the full extent of this.

    “Anyway,” says the PM. “No. U-turn now, and we’ll all just look completely out of our depths.”

    “Maybe it’s nine thousand million hundred,” I say, thoughtfully, although that doesn’t quite sound right either.


    Wednesday
    Busy morning at home, bullying myself. Then the PM calls, and says I have to announce a U-turn. Which is a surprise, because I’ve just seen him telling PMQs that there wasn’t going to be one.

    “Not about the surcharge,” says the PM. “About the NHS bereavement scheme.”

    I roll my eyes. He means this thing about the migrant families of NHS support workers who have died of coronavirus still being at risk of deportation. And it’s all a big fuss about nothing.

    “Did you know,” I say, “that not one single affected NHS support worker has contacted us to complain about this actually happening? Literally. Not one.”

    “But they’re dead,” says Boris.

    “What’s your point?” I ask.

    Thursday
    The PM calls again, and says it’s time for another U-turn.

    “Three thousand and sixty degrees?” I say.

    “No,” says Boris.

    Then he says this one actually is about the surcharge, because he’s changed his mind. Although I tell him he’ll have to handle it himself, because I’m busy finalising our new pandemic quarantine rules.

    “Oh, about that,” says the PM. “Dom was worried that you might not have thought of air bridges.”

    “Honestly,” I say, “I don’t know why everybody thinks he’s so clever.”

    Boris says something about it all being relative.

    “All bridges are air bridges,” I point out. “Unless they’re tunnels.”

    Friday
    I’m doing the big press conference today, but first I’ve gone into Downing Street to tell Dom and the PM my quarantine plan. Although Boris says all he really cares about is that it gives him an excuse not to go to this mad summit thing being planned by Donald Trump.

    “You’d probably have an exemption,” I say.

    “Blast,” he says.

    Then I say we’ll also need an exemption for eastern European fruitpickers, but then Dominic reminds me that I literally said four days ago that those were the people we didn’t want. So I say, no, we definitely do want eastern European fruitpickers, but we just don’t necessarily want them to come from eastern Europe.

    “This can’t go on,” says Dom. “Listen to her. It’s mortifying.”

    “Deal with it,” I snap. “Because I’m a rising talent. And whatever happens for the next few months, I have no intention of leaving the Home Office!”

    “Please don’t!” says Dom.

    “Make your mind up,” says the PM.

    “Oh wait,” says Dom. “I thought she meant her own home office.”

    *according to Hugo Rifkind

    1. Being a ‘smart’ guillotine, was it made in China and runs on Huawei 5g?

      1. 319543+ up ticks,
        Ntn,
        I believe it to be the coming place to go if you want to get ahead.

      2. Does that mean I must be careful next time I press ‘send’ when texting?
        Ooops …… sorreeeee ………

      1. 319543+ up ticks,
        Morning Anne,
        Have I been remiss in leaving out the n letter somewhere ?

    1. Toe Fat – with a very young Elton John and Bernie Taupin. We seem to be on the Bad Side of the Moon…

      Go’morgen, Bamse!

          3. When Rob hits the top notes in the Sentinel, he still hits the note. He also has a far wider lower range, all within seconds of each other. Gram Bonnet is singing a la Bee Gees. No contest, Bamse xxx

          4. I cannot disagree with you that it is “no contest”, me duck: Bonnet wins hands down. He showed that he is not a one-trick-pony when he absolutely nailed this Bob Dylan standard:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSBDlsTyT60

            Yes, Only One Woman is a Bee Gees song but it was written specifically for the lad from Skegness after he had sent in a tape of his exquisite voice to a radio station. Many years later he was headhunted by Ritchie Blackmore who, after leaving Deep Purple, contacted Mike Reid at the BBC asking to be “put in contact with the guy with the incredible voice from The Marbles.” He met Bonnet and told him he wanted him as the lead singer in Rainbow but, since they were a heavy rock band, he insisted Bonnet grew his hair back. Bonnet told him that he’d love to be the singer but on no condition was he going to grow his hair again. Blackmore told him to keep his short hair since it was his voice he was after. Bonnet left Rainbow after a couple of years due to personality clashes with Blackmore.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P17ct4e5OE

            Halford is a fine heavy metal vocalist but no more than that. His high notes are a caterwauling screech that hurt the ears; suitable for the genre but nothing else. He might have a vast range but you need control, especially at the falsetto level.

            Over to you, lille Havfrue. 😘

          5. He’s as off some of the notes as Dylan was (but then Dylan couldn’t sing). In fact he sounds like a mix of Dylan and Rod Stewart.

            By contrast, Halford reaches top and bottom within second of each other.

            My ears don’t hurt – “and send to hell” is remarkably on the note. Maybe I have fine oerer! Knus x

            P.S. By the way a famous opera singer (or other well-know personage in opera, I can’t remember) said that Halford was the only male singer in metal music whose range and pitch were such that she would have wanted to train for opera. I must try to find the piece I got the info. from.

            P.P.S. (and just to give you something to latch onto!) I fancied Rob in the early days up to about 1985. Pity he was homosexual (I will NOT abuse the word gay)…

          6. He’s as off some of the notes as Dylan was (but then Dylan couldn’t sing). In fact he sounds like a mix of Dylan and Rod Stewart.

            By contrast, Halford reaches top and bottom within second of each other.

            My ears don’t hurt – “and send to hell” is remarkably on the note. Maybe I have fine oerer! Knus x

            P.S. By the way a famous opera singer (or other well-know personage in opera, I can’t remember) said that Halford was the only male singer in metal music whose range and pitch were such that she would have wanted to train him for opera. I must try to find the piece I got the info. from.

            P.P.S. (and just to give you something to latch onto!) I fancied Rob in the early days up to about 1985. Pity he was homosexual (I will NOT abuse the word gay)…

          9. I missed out completely on Judas Priest (as well as others in that genre) since I found a lot of the post-Def Leppard/Iron Maiden-type bands much of a muchness.

            I was heavily ([no pun intended] into the “heavy rock” and “prog rock” of the early 1970s with such bands as Led Zeppelin; Uriah Heep; Wishbone Ash; Yes; Emerson, Lake & Palmer and dozens more of that ilk. When it became a competition, in the late 1980s/early 1990s, between all the Boni Jovi-clones to see who could be loudest, fastest and most camp, I just gave up listening. To me, once I’d seen/heard one I’d seen/heard them all.

            I know this is not a fair way to judge bands since I missed out on some undoubtedly good stuff (Judas Priest being one of many) but that’s how life is sometimes.

            [BTW: Your secret is safe with me] 😘

          10. I was also into all the bands you mention, except that I thought that ELP were so self-indulgent that (apart from a couple of tracks on each LP) they were boring. Bon Jovi wasn’t me.

            The reason Judas Priest weren’t known so much here (although Black Country [Potteries] boys) was that they were largely also competing with Punk and idiots pogo’ing. They made it in the USA around 1983, and had far bigger audiences theeere and around the world than they did in the UK.

            More fool the UK pogo audiences. Personally I find that, while there is some limited good punk music, most of it is cr*p. E.g. the Damned could be quite good, and I liked The Stranglers etc.

            BTW: Phew! :o)

          11. I took NME religiously during the 70s but got pissed off with its pretentious journalists when they started having a pop at prog rock (after prostrating themselves before it for years) when punk arrived! I stopped buying it.

            I am still a huge Stranglers fan (Skin Deep is a classic); I saw them live at Sheffield. And I also like some of Jam’s stuff.

          12. I kinda “stopped” in the mid-late 70s, so know little after. You left out KC and Soft Machine, to name but two.

          13. King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Family and a few others I liked to varying degrees.

            Soft Machine were a little different, I thought. A bit more jazzy, a touch more avant-garde; unclassifiable really. Proper The Old Grey Whistle Test material.

          14. Music in a Doll’s House was the first album I bought – mono, still have it!

          15. Goddag, kaere Prins (det var en prins, som den lille havfrue fik ben for. Na, jeg har nok ben, men maske ben i naesen!),

            If you get my other answer, N.B that I have edited it a couple of times, so it may not look the same as in your notifications.

      2. Years ago (early 70s) my mate and I jumped into my black mini and I drove us to Brighton to see EJ. He wasn’t ‘feeling well’ and couldn’t make it. Status Quo were the support band. I think The venue was called the big Apple. We took one look at the inside of the venue to see hundreds of kids sitting on the floor rocking their heads full of long hair shaking it all about. Not our scene, we went for a couple of beers and a steak. Drove back to north London A 23 in those days.
        Got to Swiss Cottage and was confronted by the front end and head lights of a Roller blocking the way.
        No where to go into flashed the head lamps on the front grill of the Roller. Which prompted the driver to get out.
        I slid my window back (remember that) and he bent forward saying. “If I were you young man I’d turn around and go the other way you’re in a one way street”. Which I did to comply with his very polite request.
        That was the only part of the evening that was ‘a little bit funny’. 😊

        1. Sliding windows.. sigh – Firstborn’s mini van and his Landy both have these, as did my old 1968 Mini Traveller Woody.
          Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be…

          1. Shiney Black, red upholstery.
            I later souped up the engine, wide wheels and fat tyres. Shame about the brakes. Whoops. Write off.
            MGB GT Next.

          2. My first Mini had sliding windows – and a press button solenoid on the floor to start it!

          4. I drove all round Europe (The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, back through Germany and home via Belgium) in that Mini in 1971.

  34. An open letter: why we need a National Youth Corps. Will Hutton. Sun 24 May 2020.

    The Youth Corps has the potential to be a crucial building block in getting the whole of Britain back to work, both in providing opportunities for young people at a crucial moment in their lives and in creating an army of workers who can help propel a faster economic recovery than would otherwise be the case. It is a moral and economic imperative.

    Rushanara Ali, MP Co-founder and Chair of UpRising and One Million Mentors. Will Hutton. Etc. Etc.

    Better known as the Young Marxists!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/24/an-open-letter-why-we-need-a-national-youth-corps

    1. Thank you. Those were the days. Although I was surprised that there was so little “sochul distancing…”

    2. Fascinating see those especially having visited the area when working in Caen a few years ago.

      1. Great pics – and happy birthday! Slow off the mark but that’s me I’m afraid 😊.

          1. You’ve only got to look at Congress & Westminster to know that is the Truth!

        1. Or, as at the last opera I went to in Nice in January, boos and jeers (from a small section of dissatisfied people. Who demonstrated themselves to be utter plonkers, because the production and staging was faultless.)

          1. That’s different. Robert Tear in his book of operatic anecdotes tells a lovely story of one production when the trapdoor mechanism taking the good Dr down to hell jammed halfway down. Much consternation in the audience until one Italian shouted out: “How wonderful, Hell is full!”….

          2. If you have not come cross it, a book you would enjoy is: The Lexicon of Musical Invective

            For sale on Amazon (other bucket shops are available).

          4. The only radio programme that I made on my own (BBC Radio 2 Arts Programme – 1993 or 94) was about Music and the Law. It was on Pick of the Week!

            Anyway, I used a quote from the Lexicon – “That Bastard Brahms writing Beethoven’s Tenth”…!!

          6. A couple of years ago I emailed Petroc:

            “Dear Petroc,

            Many, many years ago when compiling 13 one hour programmes for Hospital Radio, I couldn’t resist playing the Walk to the Paradise Garden after The March to the Scaffold….

            He replied:
            “Morning Stephen !

            That made me laugh”.

            He did too – laugh on air!

          7. Yes. There is something about his relentless enthusiasm that sets my teeth on edge. But he is less aggravating than the ubiquitous and garrulous Service. And as for the breathless totties…..

          8. I tuned in on Saturday morning and Alka Seltzer was whispering to the point where I turned it off.

            At least with Petroc his presentation is very clear.

          9. True.

            The only one left from my day is Donald Macleod- and the PTB must be desperate to get rid of him and replace his slot with an English-hating, music-hating bame rapper.

          10. Yes he is definitely the best and his composer of the week is always interesting, even when it’s a composer I don’t like.

          11. A couple of years ago I emailed Petroc:

            “Dear Petroc,

            Many, many years ago when compiling 13 one hour programmes for Hospital Radio, I couldn’t resist playing the Walk to the Paradise Garden after The March to the Scaffold….

            He replied:
            “Morning Stephen !

            That made me laugh”.

            He did too – laugh on air!

  38. For those of you who are interested in these things, the word “furlough” appears three times in the English translation by the Maudes of “War and Peace“…..by L Tolstoy.

    1. It’s down on all fours with (young) people on the radio saying “soccer, as the Americans call it”. It always was soccer in my youth, alongside rugger.

      1. It is the audio book that I have on at night (insomnia, doncha know – it will get to you one day!!)

        A brilliant reading of a fascinating novel that I managed to spend 70 yeas not reading. Having it in the car on the long hikes from her to Laure and back was a revelation.

        1. Have the opposite to insomnia – could sleep for Europe in the sleepy-Rider cup. Soon as I stop doing something, and

        2. I read War and Peace in my twenties during a long stay in hospital. The nurses – proper ones in white starched aprons and hats – used to come in and check how far I’d got with the book before administering the pills etc.

    3. OH, were the Americans involved in that and went on leave from time to time?

      1. Indeed – the Maudes were Americans – and they used the word to describe a soldier on leave in exactly the same way as we did in our youth, Tom!

  39. Cummings, Cummings, Cummings, I’ve switched off LBC as they started the third hour of Andrew Castle’s programme with a continuation of the second hour’s topic, Cummings. I didn’t hear the first hour but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was about bloody Cummings. What with Cummings and the end of some foreign cultural holiday that results in the mass barbaric slaughter of helpless animals I’ve just about had enough.

    1. I suppose if they recruited the All Black’s scrum half from the 1970s they could have Cummings and Goings.

    2. Remainers scent blood. They will not be satisfied until Cummings is hanged, drawn and quartered.

      As to Ramadan and Eid, we have Pentecost next Sunday to look forward to.

      1. These were taken 2 years ago. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f61f85dfa0a55450fabbc856abcc7473676c66ed83693e8fa0258bfd1b4c277f.jpg
        Shows Albertine with Teasing Georgia leaning over next door’s fence. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bd48841ac588f5803c4babad835711311a5a06dc31fa10a17695af3cf2d63f02.jpg
        Camera moved to left shows Veilchenblau & The Grland. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/263c127538201e6e7cd6849ebae81f70844969bf13895caac09b9beb74b0d626.jpg -https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/46c8cdcf382b1ac512df79809ab183b06c4c53c0919c5e7a90d24c045e1c43e4.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/657ce5c859d821bad1c8a5aa6b805665ac7cf269db4430a06e8c6af093ccee79.jpg .
        Bobbie James on east wall – is the middle picture.

    1. Good God. Insanity indeed! And these are supposedly better educated? What a larf. I have utter contempt for the performer and the spectators.

  43. The CDs have now been unpacked, sorted and shelved. The books have been unpacked from the boxes……

    The MR has decided to do a complete revamp of all the books throughout the house…. That’ll fill the summer….

    1. I am rebuying some of my series books in the same editions so they match on the shelves.

  44. I’m guessing Cummings must have upset George or someone in the higher echelons.

  45. I know nothing about Mr Cummings, really. But the witch hunt is absurd.
    A couple of days ago, we decided we’d like some ice cream. The real stuff that you used to be able to buy in Italian cafes, because every town in Scotland had an Italian cafe. So we drove to our nearest, a round trip of around 60 miles. I bumped into chap whom I knew and I had a quick chat, standing the usual distance apart, around two feet I suppose.
    I’m past caring. Our politicians have been getting everything wrong for many years. The influx of immigrants is deliberate. No matter that they would not qualify to arrive legally, they can enter the country illegally. the establishment and their chums make money from this. They are not going to change it.
    The pattern has been established over decades. The MSM, the chatterati, the academics and the politicos and their cronies are in love with it. It will not change. I might be imprisoned, but the people smugglers will not be. I might be denounced as a criminal but the fat cats won’t be. I might be reviled for my views but the bombers won’t be. Covid-19 just serves to tighten our collars.
    I watched a brief film at lunchtime, on Talking Pictures. A public service film about the UK during WW2; factories, trains, dances, pubs. The people who lived in a country that has now all but vanished. I weep.

  46. Mr Johnson to address the nation at 5 pm.

    Calling a General Election, I shouldn’t wonder…{:¬))

        1. The take away message appears to be : With a bit of luck it will be all over by Christmas ….the economy that is….. 🙁

        1. Unless he squeezed it into the Q&A, and I missed it, I was wrong and pleased so to be.

    3. The press and Tw@tterati are calling for Dominic Cummings’ head on a pike – I hope he resists that.

        1. Cummings clearly thinks the world is his oyster but he’s just being shellfish…

          9. Perhaps Bojo’s five o’clock briefing will offer us a ray of hope. If not, Cod help us…

    4. He is going to announce his resignation as he needs to recover properly and spend more time with his new family. He will announce Theresa May as interim PM.

      2. Good move – the country need someone strong and stable, a listener, brim full of new ideas….

        I’ll get me pistol.

    5. Johnson – The pandemic was all a hoax to save the planet and to please Greta and the Chinese

  47. Scotland has agreed to give care workers who die in service £60000 retrospectively. Sunak has opened up a pandora’s box of claims which he cannot control and Sturgeon is turning the screw. No doubt Boris will be asked if he will do the same.

    1. I wouldn’t mind if Scotland were paying for it, but England is. It’s time the Barnett formula were revoked and Scotland forced to be independent.

    1. Now if he had crossed the channel from France in a Rubber Boat the Press wouldn’t have said a word…

    2. Can’t help you there, Ogga, but I’ll have a look at the North Sea for you ……..

      … I’ll get me field-glasses …

      1. Haven’t we got any Nottlers further south who can keep an eye things. Phizzee could cast an eye over the Solent, but I don’t think the dinghys get that far west.

      1. 319543+ up ticks,
        Afternoon N,
        What truly amazes me is how peoples have been jumping from one to another of what they class as political elites only to have their saviours shot down one after tother.
        I knew from the outset 24/6/2016 hearing “leave it to the tories”
        treachery was in the air.
        You DO NOT get into what passes now as governance parties without being fully trained in treachery / treason.
        You DO NOT poke a successfully paying scam with a victorious
        referendum rod without very serious, odious, treacherous, repercussions.

          1. 319543+ up ticks,
            N,
            Prior to the mid 70s there was the exception, after the big scam was triggered none of the toxic trio hierarchy especially after
            b liar lifted the latch.
            The peoples continued feeding the treachery campaign via the polling booth, piling trouble on trouble,year on year, failure on failure until we have what we are now witnessing.

            Currently submissive,pcism & appeasement, is winning the day.

            The sign of a good politico currently is one who is tagged as a far right racist, de-platformed & suppressed.

          2. Prior to the mid seventies we had the sainted Ted Heath – yes – that one who sold us down the river in the firat place! Think back a little further……… Wilson? Callaghan? Supermac? What about Thorpe the dogger?

      2. She’ll get her HO people over to France and sign all of them up as ‘British Nationals’ before flying them in as legal immigrants. Ergo, no more boat people and problem sorted.😎

      3. The prospect of that daft bint changing “international law” is just so laughable.

        She really hasn’t a clue about anything – all mouth and shalwar kameez.

          3. I think the worst thing about the daft bint is that she thinks she is wonderful and terribly successful.

    4. They hate one and love the other. Why, I don’t know as gimmigrants are not exactly great customers of the BBC.

      I suppose they do provide news though.

      1. 319543+ up ticks,
        Evening W,
        The illegal invasion of immigrants is unwelcome news, the BBc
        is the portrayer of odious propaganda.

  49. As I returned from Sainsbury’s an hour or so ago I stopped to talk to a young man and a young woman (probably no older than 21) who were sitting on the big open space in front of the house. They were at least 9′ apart. I asked them the obvious question. They gave me a look that said “Why do you think?!” They replied: “Aren’t you concerned?”. “Not that much,” I said. I asked them if they knew anyone who had the illness. “No, but we don’t want to risk taking it home.”

    We then had a perfectly amicable ramble through a few points – flu deaths, avoidable deaths, understandable fear of an unknown virus. I wasn’t going to win them over in those few brief moments but then it wasn’t my intention to do so. I was about to turn away but then paused and asked: “We can’t do this during next winter, can we?” The little shadow that passed across their faces wasn’t just the sun going behind a cloud.

  50. So lets get this straight, all through the lockdown thousands of people have travelled to the UK illegally across the channel in inflatable boats, some have been picked up by the coastguard after being escorted across, some have slipped through the net and have landed in Kent and disappeared, our mainstream media and opposition parties seem totally unconcerned about this, especially if these people could have had the corona virus, yet they do not want to talk about that, they are all going mad over a non-story whereby someone who was not elected went to stay in isolation near his family for their own safety.

    1. 319543+ up ticks,
      Morning B3,
      Just proving once again chaff works as it always has.
      Not a lot of peoples want to know that as it brings into question their party’s loyalty regarding the UK.
      Plain to see that is non existent but, not a lot of people want to know that.
      Where is the opposition party ?
      To my mind what we have is a close shop lab/lib/con coalition, ie governance party & opposition party
      entwined all under one roof so to speak
      ( whilst speaking is still allowed a little)

      1. The Left *don’t care*. It’s not about the gimmigrants.

        It is only about their ego and how much they can hurt those they hate. Nothing else matters. Hatred is all that defines them.

      2. He doesn’t need to worry they have a well organised ‘escort agency’ to look out and take excellent of them all.
        Even their soon to have ‘mental health issues’ and free human rights advice.

    3. And what can only be described with four letters, that **** Marr was banging on about a hard working under pressure government advisor who found it nessecary to drive his car go to the aid of his family.
      I don’t think the MSM have ever mentioned the many thousands who have arrived and are now available for taxpayers funded benefits.

  51. BoJo is speaking and he’s emphatic in his support for Dom, who’s not been sacked,nor has he resigned!

    :¬))

      1. The baying rabble seems to be working in Cummings’ favour by parking outside his house and broadcasting Boris’s speech on a giant TV. Judging by the comments in the Mail, this appears to annoy people.

      2. Let’s hope it stiffens his resolve when it comes to seeing off those clamouring for an extension to the Transition Period.

    2. Amazing. I thought Boris would fold. Excellent news! The noise might get worse before it gets better, though. A seven day wonder.

  52. We’ve got our next door neighbour coming round for dinner this evening, so I’d better go and have a tidy -up and water the plants.

    Anyone going to snitch on me for breaking the rules?

  53. Blah, blah, blah – lots of numbers (made up on the spot); Cummings jolly good sort – very responsible parent; every confidence, blah, blah, blah – opening schools blah, slowly, blah, consulted with everyone blah, including school “leaders” (ghastly, awful phrase) blah – and now here is Professor Gubbins with lots of meaningless and incomprehensible charts to bore you to death. Blah blah.

    Thank God it is nearly time for a drink.

      1. Nope – 40 minutes to run. Just the time for a fleet of rubber boats to make a safe crossing from Calais to Kent.

    2. You’ve got it all wrong. You should have had a drink instead of watching the daily briefing.

      I did (hic).

        1. It’s come to something when the simple return to everyday normal would be regarded as dramatic….

  54. BoJo stated that some of the accusations regarding DC are false. That was interesting. If someone comes up with photographic evidence the game will change.

    I’m pleased that BoJo has essentially said:
    “good try, next”

    2. yeah, but remember the old adage; when the Prime Minister reaffirms their confidence in you, the chop is just round the corner.

  55. My neighbourhood has a high percentage of third worlders and it’s very noticeable that they and the working class locals are the people behaving normally. The white middle class seem to have largely taken leave of their senses. An example. A young man stepped out with his back to the traffic on the always busy Goldhawk Road W12 this pm rather than pass me on a wide pavement. Sadly he got away with it. Never a number 94 or 237 when you’re all ready with the Darwin prize.

    1. Sadly? I don’t think you’d enjoy watching someone splattered by traffic, Sue. Not at all nice, I can assure you. a huge HOOT! works better!

      1. Of course I wouldn’t enjoy it but who in their right mind steps into a busy main road in order to “social distance”. It’s madness.

    2. I didn’t ask the names of the young couple I spoke to earlier but I doubt that they were Wayne and Jade.

    3. I have noticed that with the WC – (on the rare occasions I have dared to leave the house…).

    1. It was a close shave.

      Riding a bike was a bit daft… Still, at least he has his hand on the virus.

        1. I know none of us can do anything about our looks, but he is an ugly bugger, isn’t he?

          And his missus is lovely. Apparently, he is – according to her – a devoted parent. Though ugly!

    3. For someone supposed to be so clever, did he never consider the furore that he would create had he been caught out?

      2. Anyone displaying a wholesale paucity of common sense can never be described as being “clever” or “intelligent”.

        An accumulation of knowledge in any specified area or discipline (as this individual has) is certainly not a measure of one’s brightness.

      3. Why would he consider that he would be “caught out” i.e. implying that he considered he was doing something wrong in the first place:


        At the government’s daily press conference on 24 March, England’s deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries spoke of the “exceptional circumstance” of an adult unable to care for a young child during the pandemic.

        “A small child clearly is a vulnerable individual, so in this case, although we are encouraging everybody to stay in their own households – that’s the unit with the same risk of exposure – clearly if you have adults who are unable to look after a small child, that is an exceptional circumstance,” Dr Harries said.

        1. Thank you, lms.

          If any NoTTLer can tweet (or whatever it’s called) could they re-tweet this quote to the likes of Mike Baker, JHB etc etc?

        2. Funny – yer meeja (and the baying pack of assorted MPs etc) seem to have forgotten that.

        3. He drove like 300 miles knowing he had covid19. How did he fill his car up?
          He has to go. He’s making the government look stupid and totally untrustworthy.

          1. I have driven more than 300 miles in my campervan – hardly particularly economical – on one tank of petrol. Why shouldn’t an eco-car (he’s bound to have one of those) be able to do the same?

        4. If he didn’t consider that he was doing anything wrong, he was pretty dim not to think that others would.

    4. Children led into Tilly Whim caves to camp overnight
      Swanage Coastguard has prevented a group from staying overnight in the dangerous Tilly Whim caves area at Durlston.

      A large group of adults and children have been prevented by Swanage Coastguard from camping overnight in the dangerous Tilly Whim caves area at Durlston.

      Following a report yesterday evening from an eyewitness who saw the group heading towards the caves with camping gear, the Swanage Coastguard went to the area to discover that seven adults along with three children had scaled the wall that blocked off the area.

      The caves are closed due to their treacherous condition and there are clear signs warning of the danger. The site is located on a ledge of an unstable cliff.

      The Swanage Coastguard said:

      “The group were asked to leave and reminded that no overnight camping is currently allowed. They commented that they thought they were out of the way but were leaving to return to London.”

      https://www.swanage.news/children-led-into-tilly-whim-caves-to-camp-overnight/?utm_source=fb-ads&utm_medium=news-stories&fbclid=IwAR0MT9M3uta-El03DH7KnZyJfzg4TiAWvJ5oamxeHdjq6hsslNhREQfBFPI

    5. Taking advantage of the quiet streets, Dom went for a ride on his bicycle, but the police stopped him and told him he would have to leave old Durham Town.

  57. The sheer scale of the furore against Cummings is amazing
    Anyone would think he was an elected official who had offered to pay Romanian rent boys in cocaine for kinky sex
    Oh Wait……………………
    Edit
    Sos asked what bad news is being hidden,well the Boaty Gimmegrants and their Government escorts have vanished from view,even Farage who broke the story hates Dom so much he is focused there……..

    2. The much bigger scandal is being sidelined by this minor infringent of rules which can be interpreted in several ways. There is an old saying which I have followed all my adult life and is apt in this instance. It is “Rules are for the guidance of wise men and for the blind obedience of fools”
      The much bigger long standing scandal is the UK Border Force aiding and abetting the criminal illegal immigrant invasion of the UK taking place in collusion with the French Border Force. Nigel Farage has exposed the reality of what is taking place in the channel yet the media seem to have sidelined this in order to foolishly attempt to get rid of Dominic Cummings.

      2. Nigel Farage has exposed the reality of what is taking place in the channel yet the media seem to have sidelined this in order to foolishly attempt to get rid of Dominic Cummings.

        Which is probably one piece of news they are deliberately ignoring in favour of the furore over Cummings

      3. I’ve wondered if they are being flown in at night, possibly into RAF bases, then onto coaches to be dispersed along the empty roads to their new, funded by us, lives. A couple of years ago they were being flown into Italy at night, from Libya. The website that reported it has been “under maintenance” since. One massive cover up.

        1. That’s an interesting idea. Some months ago, the police had put out cones on one of the back roads around Boscombe Down (a good place for plane spotting). My son happened to be driving down that way and he said there was a large plane landed with no markings at all – he said it looked like the very large passenger planes. It seemed they didn’t want anyone stopping to see what was going on.

      4. Worrying about illegal immigration will get you called nasty names, Clyde. That will never do, it’s too hurty. Diddums.

        1. I’ve got a thick skin Oberst. I have disapproved of uncontrolled immigration since it was obviously a problem. I had to cycle into the middle of the road this afternoon to avoid a Somali runner who was running off the empty pavement I glowered at him. It was at a dangerous point in the road

          1. When we moved to Norway, we had to show we had employment for at least one of us, somewhere to live, and attend language courses. Not just roll up and expect to be handed everything on a plate.

    3. I don’t think it is amazing at all. Remainers have bloody noses because of what Cummings engineered. They have been wanting his head on a pike ever since the 2019 GE. They will not allow this opportunity to pass by.

    4. Didn’t Dom have a hand in denying the Media access to the PM and Ministers to prevent their petty fogging interviews? If so it was probably deemed unforgivable in their eyes – therefore the Dom must go

      1. He maybe should have had some influence when it came to the daily updates, I.e., stopped them!

      1. “I ‘ad that Cummings in the back of my cab once…” Abdul Rashid….

      1. Funny how they all forget what is important , and distract from Brexit ..

        They are discrediting everything .. Not much signs of of social distancing really and truly.

        I reckon the whole of the BAME NHS were here with their families having BBQs on Dorset beaches today .. it is a warm day , and thousands travelled down to this area in their Audis and Mercs and BMWs and space age Vdub wagons full of families . Some say Bristol, Slough and London .. Well good luck to them all .. I hope there won’t be tears before bedtime in 12 days time !

  59. Evening, all. After a dull, blustery and cool start it’s turned into a lovely day. Just the sort to bring out the CBA syndrome at its most powerful. In the meantime, a few figures about the cost of the lockdown courtesy of the Tax Payers’ Alliance:

    “Figures recently released by the Office for National Statistics have
    revealed the devastating impact coronavirus is having on the economy.
    Last month the government borrowed a record £62 billion.

    Taxpayers are the unsung heroes of this crisis. Their hard-earned taxes
    have kept families and business afloat during this incredibly difficult
    time. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. It is clear that
    repairing the economy will be a monumental challenge. The TPA research
    team has put together some key figures from the report:

    In April 2020 the government repaid more in VAT than it received – VAT cash receipts were minus £0.9 billion

    Income tax revenues and national insurance contributions fell by £3.8 billion and £2.4 billion respectively.

    Receipts for corporation tax fell by £4.1 billion.

    The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme cost £14 billion in April 2020,

    Government departments spent an extra £7.1 billion on staff and goods compared with April 2019.

    Overall grants to local authorities increased by £14.2 billion compared with April 2019.

    In response to these record breaking figures we issued a press release
    urging the chancellor to steer clear of punishing tax rises to balance
    the books. Attempting to tax away a fiscal deficit driven by the deepest slump in living memory would be crazy. The
    priority must be to get the economy back up and running, with tax cuts
    on jobs and investment being the only way to power us towards growth.

    ”

    It chimes with what I’ve been saying for ages; we need to cut taxes to stimulate growth.

    1. Dare I say I’m starting not to give a toss about the above statistics. For old-fashioned characters such as me, the UK was living in a financial la-la land before this crisis hit.

      I think my best bet from now on is not to fret but to keep my head down, my savings up and let the financial Xperts who got us here save the day.

      1. If I were you, I’d turn my savings into gold. Negative interest rates and bail ins could well be on the way.

        1. It does make you wonder when the end-game will be and who’ll be left holding the parcel when the fan encounters the wotsit.

          4. That’s where we have an advantage; we’ve seen it before and we know what works and what doesn’t.

        1. Done it, Ob.

          Unfortunately, the mattress is now so high I keep burning my bum on the light bulb.

    2. It chimes with what I’ve been saying for ages; we need to cut taxes to stimulate growth.

      That was Ronnie Reagan’s theory – Reaganomics as it was known. Or Voodoo economics as it was described at the time.

      Didn’t work, the US ended up with an even bigger deficit, which was not really dealt with until Clinton got elected. I know Sos hates him for unknown reasons, but he left the country with a balanced budget – which his successors promptly frittered away on tax cuts to the high earners.

        1. Nobody has 90% tax rates these days. But cutting government income (i,e, taxes) even more when the government is already well under water financially won’t help. That would be a bit like trying to pay off your credit card debt by reducing your payments.

          The fact is, somebody has to pay down the huge deficit that has been run up. If not taxpayers then who?

          1. The deficit is going to grow but not as fast as the debt which already has far too many 000,000,000,000,000,000 ad infinitum.

          4. Not currently, but at the time they were that high; they were reduced and the economy improved. Our current tax burden is at its highest since then. How about paying for the deficit by workers with good productivity, producing goods we can sell? Exports, invisible imports (like tourism). Plus, of course, restricting expenditure to the “must have” rather than the “nice to have” – and getting rid of overseas waste aid.

  61. Who shot JR? The summer when Britain nearly lost the plot

    “Who shot JR?” Back in 1980, this was the question on everyone’s lips – and on car bumper stickers, T-shirts and mugs, too. It was emblazoned everywhere and it was inescapable. Some wags went for the cheeky variant slogan of “I shot JR”, which only teased us more.

    No it wasn’t! Even back then I couldn’t abide soaps; American or British. I have never actually seen a full episode of Dallas or its even cornier offspring about some face-lifted overdressed freaks muttering endless inanities. I feel not one whit worse off for this deprivation.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/shot-jr-summer-britain-nearly-lost-plot/

    3. That particular piece of excitement passed me by, Minty. Late 1980, I was back in Northern Ireland – again – and I have to say I was slightly more concerned about who might shoot me…
      ;¬)

      1. I still don’t know who did it, if anyone Duncan. Do you yourself know?

        2. It was Mary Crosby I can’t remember her character’s name in the soap.

        3. It was his sister in law who he was having an affair with. Kristen Shepherd played by Mary Crosby.

          I am a lot younger and more stupider than you lot.

        4. Nope!

          Edit: …. but I’m sure Gerry Adams will deny that he ordered it.

      2. #metoo. I never watched it, was never interested in it, and therefore could not give a flying f**k who killed JR (although it was a major news item at the time – God knows why).

        1. Shot not killed. He decided not to prosecute.

          I only say this for informational purposes and not because i’m a big fan or anything.

          I used to dream about Sue Ellen but that’s male hormones for ya. 🙂

          1. Ah well – there you are. I didn’t even know that the victim (JR?) had survived.

    4. I owe my rapid advance in colloquial German to watching that series on German TV in the mid-80s.. No subtitles.

    5. I remember all they hype but can honestly say I never watched an episode at all. Nor of Dynasty. Maybe because I was brought up in a telly-free household and my mother never did have one in her life. Unfortunately, a year or so after I was married, a friend passed on an ancient one and we have had one ever since.

    6. I shot the sheriff but not the deputee.

      As they used to say, “Ignore the soaps and get a life, boy”.

    1. They got it right as that is what we have always done in the past.

      Which works best, answers on a post………….

    2. The one place it should be trialled is with hospital staff. They’re on the front line treating patients with it….And I suspect, spreading it to patients without it.
      A friend of ours died from CV19 on Tuesday. He’d originally gone into hospital with a bad chest infection, tested negative for CV19, treated with IV antibiotics and sent home after recovering. A week later he deteriorated again and was taken back to hospital where he then tested positive. He went downhill and died on Tuesday.
      He and his wife had been observing the lockdown and he still caught it, and the only place I and his wife could think of was during the first hospital admission, even though he was supposed to be on a “clean, CV19-free” ward.
      His wife was a retired nurse, and he was a retired NHS fire officer. He was probably about 70 years old with a bad chest after years of smoking cigarettes, and maybe smoke inhalation during his time as a fireman (pure speculation on the latter on my part).
      Don’t also forget how the NHS managed to spread the virus to care homes with the short sighted policy of discharging everyone out of the wards to make room for all the CV19 patients who never turned up.

      1. Your friend unfortunately died from the one place that should have saved his life with appropriate aftercare but his ultimate demise is now the prevalent fear of all those who feel they suspect they have a health issue that requires emergency treatment but is not COVID related.

        The situation is not helped by the fact that GPs must assume that everyone coming into their surgery is COVID infected and that hospitals are the most likely place to find COVID infected patients.

      2. The problem is the initial trials are just to prove that it is not harmful so giving the vaccine to hospital staff would not have been a good idea. Reports on a vaccine test here talked about varying doses being used to help estimate the best dose size, larger doses were reported as having negative side effects.

        Shame that there are not enough people infected to make testing effective. I don’t suppose that they have thought of testing in Brazil.

      3. There is no where more dangerous than hospitals and doctors waiting rooms. I attribute my long life and relatively good health to avoiding them whenever possible!

  63. Katie Hopkins.

    You didn’t visit your mum?
    You didn’t see your sister?
    You didn’t go to your fathers funeral?

    Then you – my friends – deserve communism

    Why have you let a bonkers government tell you what to do? Boris lost his mind on 23 March 2020. But fattened by furlough you nodded along

    1. I confess!
      We broke lockdown this weekend.
      My daughter was admitted to hospital with an ectopic pregnancy on Friday and had to undergo emergency surgery. My son-in-law dropped off our grandchildren to my wife and me to look after during the emergency. My daughter came out of hospital today, and we took our two grand-daughters back to her and her husband.
      Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

      (Actually, I don’t apologise).

      1. Sorry to hear that, hope your daughter recovers, and you have nothing to apologise for.

        1. Thanks, jill. She’s in a bit of pain, but obviously relieved it’s all over. I was surprised she was discharged from hospital quite so soon, but apparently they wanted the bed!

          1. I bet she is thankful to be out of the hospital – hospitals seem to be where one picks up all sorts of bugs (let alone this current plague).

          2. She’s in her early thirties, so shouldn’t suffer from the virus too badly if she does catch it. But I don’t like hospitals – they’re full of sick people!

      2. It’s OK – the police have been informed – by several dozen local snitches – and are on their way.

        The two grand-children will be taken into care and fostered with an unmarried bame couple.

      4. Poor soul. Glad you were there for them and that they are settled back together again. Best wishes to you and them.

      5. You did absolutely the right thing. Any caring grandparents would have done the same.

    1. She gives her opinion too much anyway. Should just report news, nobody’s interested in her thoughts on the matter.

      1. Possibly, but it’s nice to see that she can offend her natural constituents, it might wake her up.

  65. 319543+ up ticks,
    Why wait until nearly half past eight PM, pm, when you can terminate much of it at noon today.

    breitbart,
    Report: Boris Backtracks On Huawei 5G Deal, Zero China Involvement by 2023

  66. Britain ready to welcome Hong Kong refugees
    BORIS JOHNSON has a secret plan to allow hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong citizens to come to Britain if China clamps down further on the former British colony.
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1286442/china-security-law-hong-kong-refugees-uk

    None of our business.

    The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997.I recollect Chris Patten, Governor of Hong Kong making some bumbling speech at the time…

    1. At least they would all be hardworking, entrepreneurial tax paying citizens.

        2. We received letter 3 weeks ago from a Mr Tong at our branch of the Bank of Scotland saying that our overdraft facility was going to be drastically cut. We sent a letter saying, “do not do this”. No reply. When I looked at the account to pay bills, I noted that the facility had indeed been. cut to next to nothing. When we tried to contact Tong by phone it was impossible. We eventually spoke to some dolt in Belfast who said he could not put us in touch with Tong, but he wanted to ask a lot of questions, in essence an application for an overdraft facility. We might just close the account. Bank of Scotland are useless.
          They don’t understand the maxim, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.

      3. Britain blew it back in the ’90’s when they banned the Hong Kong Chinese from coming to Britain. So they ended up in various other countries where they were welcomed as hard working, creative immigrants. Britain chose yet more Muslims and Africans.

        Guess who won that contest?

        1. And just what makes you think that Britain would not still have got the dross on top of the rest?

    2. The deal then was: “One country, two systems”.

      China has reneged; also on ‘independent’ Taiwan.

      Apparently, China is using the Corona virus pandemic as cover for ‘nationalisation’ of Taiwan and Hong Kong …

      Who is going to stop them ?

      The United Kingdom is no longer capable of ‘sending a gun boat’ …

      2. The United Kingdom is no longer capable……….!!

        Good evening, Lacoste.

        1. In the aftermath of the Covid-19 Pandemic, I doubt if Gordon Brown’s ‘Aircraft-less Carriers’ will ever carry an effective force of naval aircraft …

        1. On second thoughts, I think it may have been Lord Palmerston. I failed history O Level (and unsurprisingly, having been forced to do A Level history rather than the subjects I would have preferred, I only got an O Level Pass for that)!

          1. Palmerston: ” Whenever I want thing well done in a distant part of the world ; when I want a man with a good head, a good heart, lots of pluck. and plenty of common sense, I always send for a captain of the navy”…

      4. Apparently not even capable of dealing with an inflatable in the Channel.

    4. Didn’t he set the current pattern at the bbc ?
      I’m sick of all this shonet.
      We don’t need any one else coming into the overcrowded UK ever. So many have lost their jobs already.
      And there are currently more ‘king know it alls on the media than you could poke the proverbial stick at.
      Now on channel 4 they are going on about flying holiday rip offs and scams. Do the home work and Shut the sites down.
      Despite the insect bites, I’m now going to sit at the bottom of my garden and listen to the birds. It’s the best place in know at the moment. I can smell the honeysuckle already.
      Good night peeps. 😐🐦🐥🍷

      1. AND his personal vanity caused the very sensible animal quarantine rules to be altered.

    5. Patten lost the election and his seat in Bath. The residents of Bath pelted him with rotten cabbages and other vegetables. Major rewarded Patten, his campaign director, with the Governorship of Hong Kong.

      Patten made a packet for himself and his family. He literally filled his boots. He failed to secure a proper enforceable agreement with China for a transition.

      Friends of mine working in Hong Kong got out almost immediately and returned to the UK and Germany. They realised that Patten was more interested in stuffing his face and filling the family coffers as opposed to securing their interests.

      Since returning to the UK, Patten has continued with his fine dining at high table in Oxford. Pass the port.

        1. Hi sos. I never left but took a rest having been trolled a bit too much for comfort.

          I may have also insulted a few friends, having been wound up, in a drunken stupor. I repeat my apologies to the few affected.

          2. There but for the Grace of God go we other mortals, Corim. Good to see you again.
            Don’t be a stranger!

          3. It was a few bottles of Macon Lugny and Morgon plus a half bottle of cognac according to my lovely wife. I can normally take it but something upset me. Again I saw red and should not have done so.

            Thank you for your understanding.

            Semi-retired now with no supplemental income during lockdown. Fortunately I have financial means and pension income to keep above water.

            It must be hell for countless millions with no immediate prospect of work.

          4. I suspect a few of us have been in that situation. We may just not have given way to it in public. I know my alcohol intake is almost at working levels (when I was working and stressed out, I had a serious drinking habit – not a problem, because when I stopped work, I stopped drinking) during the lockdown due to stress.

    6. Chris Patten is completely odious and the voters of Bath had the right idea when they did not elect him as their MP. However since then the odious pimple has had one prestigious job or sinecure after another.

    7. Fat Pang was given the governorship as a sinecure. The Hong Kong business community hated him.

  68. I’ve been out have the over self- obsessed over self-important mentally unstable staff at the bbc been banging on all day about one man his family and a car journey.
    But still ignoring lock down and rubber boat breeches on our beaches ?

  69. Jesus wept! Now there is a petition calling for a vote of no confidence in Boris, that already has 65,000 signatures. Who are these people, and don’t they have anything better to do?

    My view, for the little that it is worth, is that if Cummings and his wife were about to be physically incapable of looking after a 4 year-old, and their family was 200 miles away, then that was an emergency. We are not talking about dropping him off for a play-date here, but his parents being unable to look after him for up to 14 days. If it turns out he actually took multiple day trips to the beach then I will personally put him in the stocks and pelt him with rotten fruit. But if he was genuinely doing this for the welfare of his child then I honestly don’t see what the issue is.

    2. I agree, JK. You know it, I know it and anyone with half a brain knows it – he had a reasonable excuse to go to Durham. As you say, if he took the piss while he was up there then that was most unwise, because he should have remained indoors until he was over it.

      I’m not a betting man, but I somehow doubt that Johnson will sack him, if only because Labour would pay any sum to hire him after a suitable interval. And then this government really would be in the brown smelly stuff!

    4. I agree, JK. You know it, I know it and anyone with half a brain knows it – he had a reasonable excuse to go to Durham. As you say, if he took the piss while he was up there then that was most unwise, because he should have remained indoors until he was over it.

      I’m not a betting man, but I somehow doubt that Johnson will sack him, if only because Labour would pay any sum to hire him after a suitable interval. And then this government really would be in the brown smelly stuff!

    1. Good night, Peddy. Sleep well. Lucky and Stripey send their best wishes to Missy.

      1. Missy has just rolled over on her favourite chair right opposite me, which I take as an acknowledgement.

        I finished my German novel last night & this morning I discovered a sequel on Amazon, which I have ordered. Meanwhile I’m ploughing through another Kerry Wilkinson thriller.

  71. Council apologises after giving Michelin star chef child labour warning after his children help make meals for NHS
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/24/council-apologises-giving-michelin-star-chef-child-labour-warning/

    A council has apologised after giving a Michelin starred chef a child labour warning after he posted photographs of his family making free meals for the NHS.

    Andrew Pern, 50, who runs The Star Inn the City and Mr P’s Curious Tavern in York, was featured on the television after he and his children, aged 15 and 21, spent their free time cooking the dinners.

    Despite the fact the charity work was done in their own home and not on his restaurant premises, the council sent him a letter warning of child labour.

    North Yorkshire County Council’s Child Employment team wrote: : “It has been brought to my attention that following a recent news interview with BBC Look North it appeared that there were children helping out in your commercial kitchen at The Star Inn, Harome.

    “I wanted to take this opportunity to offer you some guidance relating to child employment and have enclosed an information leaflet for your perusal.”

    Mr Pern shared the letter on social media, writing: “Two of my children were helping out for free. They were sanitised and gloved up. Common sense?”
    He underlined the children were actually “working” in their own home where the family has lived for 24 years.

    Local Cllr Joe Plant responded, writing: “Having contacted NYCC yesterday, I am now aware someone spoke to Mrs Pern yesterday afternoon to apologise.

    “You will also receive a letter of an apology.

    “It has been a misjudgment and I am sorry this happened to you when team Andrew are doing an amazing job.”

    Jane le Sage, assistant director for inclusion with children and young people’s services, said: “We would like to apologise for the letter sent to Andrew Pern regarding child employment, which was not appropriate in the circumstances.

    “We have a statutory duty to make sure employers are aware of the laws in place to protect children and young people in the workplace – and the council officer involved in this case was doing her job.

    “We acknowledge that a letter was not an appropriate response in this case and we have been in contact with the Pern family to offer our apologies.”

    My response would have been short and sweet (?):-
    “Dear North Yorkshire County Council,
    F*ck off.
    Yours faithfully,
    A p*ssed off council taxpayer”

    1. People such as le Sage need to be exposed, publicised, pilloried and effing tweeted everywhere -= to show the council taxpayers what charlatans they pay for.

      1. Take them out into the garden and hose them down. It never did my children any harm.

    3. Dear Jane le Not Very Sage

      Get your flucking facts correct before your stasi start writing stupid letters.

        1. Good evening, Alf.

          I initially read that as ‘angel level’
          ……..not much difference!!! :-)))

    4. That makes a change. A Yorkshire Council suddenly concerned about child abuse. Oh hang on, it was by a white person.

          5. Don’t worry – it’s all digital these days Just look at the Chancellor’s largess £300,000,000,000 in printed digits and two more digits for taxpayers…..

    5. Truly, councils have vastly more money that could ever be considered sane.

      It’s time for a culling. Hack, hack, strim, shred, blend, strain, sieve.

      Whatever remains will be forced to efficiency and will have to prioritise. Such pointless waste of money is intolerable.

      1. Oh dream on. You know full well that any cut in revenue will be met by increased used fees, reduced services and continued vig salaries to the top dogs.

        1. Yes, this is why anyone attempting that must be sacked.

          No questions, no arguments – just gone.

      2. They have done that for ten years which is why services are rubbish and you now pay a social care precept.
        Didn’t exactly go to plan did it. What do you really think will happen with further cuts? Social housing precept. Rubbish collection precept.

        1. The state continues to grow and pay itself more money. Council income is force backed and guaranteed.

          Therefore it is spent poorly. Thus that money must be cut off. You cut and start with those people who are mis-managing the budget. These are themost expensive and least useful. Sack them! If the next lot seek to pocket money instead of providing services, sack them as well. Keep going until the message gets through.

    6. Why is it they can never apologise for making a mistake but have to go on and talk about the law? Council jobsworths!

    8. ‘… the council officer involved in this case was doing her job’. Not very well it seems. Can the name of person involved be released?

  72. I thought Boris did OK today. The BBC questioner Watson couldn’t get his sound to work. An assistant came right up to him to sort it out. Boris cut him short after his lengthy questions and he seemed to be mouthing swear words as he faded away. Again no mention of the channel invaders. and the Border Force. An earlier film of Dominic showed him entering his car with journalists swarming round him much closer than 2 metres. 1 rule for us and no rule for journalists?

    1. Oh, come on, clyde. Journalists, beeboids, yer plod – are ALL exempt from the rules they criticise others for breaking.

  73. Message for Geoff G.

    Would you kindly accredit me as a Roving Reporter Photo/Journalist for this daily News & Public Information website. I feel I have a need and indeed duty to get out more to report on conditions and the mood of the public in this segment of London Commuter Land.

    Many thanks,

    S

      1. Looks like he is in for the Tommy Robinson treatment.

        I like the way the police officers totally ignored the Press scum – so much for the need to ensure social distancing – IABATO!

      3. Note how The Agenda™ never rests.

        A black male paired with a white female [implied couple]. The decision to use this duo was not an accident. The message: only an alliance of minorities and wymmin can hold the line against the chaotic white men who threaten our civilisation.

        https://localtvwtvr.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/dylann-roof.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&w=770

        Ebil white man Dylan Roof flanked on his way to courtroom. Guarded by black male paired with white female [implied couple]. Again not an accident, they’re sending a message.

        http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/files/entryimages/0809_cameron.png

        This was David Cameron speaking in 2011 during the (majority black) rioting. And look who they put in the background?! Purely a coincidence, nothing to see here. He’s just a regular London bobby [we’re all in this together].

        This kind of casting is commonplace in soap opera, cops ‘n robbers etc on TV so it’s no surprise to see it replicated elsewhere. It’s almost as if everything we see on TV is a lie.

        1. I think Dave was totally subservient to Soros and did exactly what he wanted.

          Including the Marriage Act and removing Gaddafi.

          I expect Dave’s massively paid non jobs have a Soros link somehow.

        2. Yes Copy i will never forget the last ethnic riots in London and elsewhere when sky news colluded with the police to film a black copper going to the the house of an alleged White rioter and the black copper leading the White boy to the bacon wagon in bracelets.

          This followed by the cameron news broadcast with the black copper placed in full shot as above,these people are utter slime,i honestly cannot find the derogatory words to describe them,someone described them as bags of phlegm but even that does not do them justice.

          I see that the “poc” who allegedly built America are now burning and looting it,well yes when you feel angry at an injustice your first thoughts are to go and rob the local tv/trainer stores eh,funny that is just what they did over here using the Duggan shooting as an excuse.

          Funny that.

          All the best.

      1. Can he be a BBC barber as well.

        They seem to be able to roam when/where ever they want

  74. Awkward Squad BBQ this arvo,much beer wine and merriment amid various charred meat and sides
    I now need a lie down,I may be some time…………………….

  75. BBC News – some old bat having a go at DC (Sarah Jones Labour). A good 9 minutes rant without interuption.
    Any one would think auntie was biased….


    1. Labour). A good 9 minutes rant without interruption.

      Just like on Question Time before the referendum and General Election

    2. Has anyone challenged the concept that the BBC’s own medical correspondent Fergus Walsh could have contributed to the COVID-19 epidemic himself in the UK after he said he was ill in early January 2020 but had only recently found that three independent antibody tests proved positive.

      I’ve lost count of the number of hospitals and operating theatres I’ve seen him reporting from and it looks as though there’s a high probability that he was not only infectious but may also have even been a superspreader.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-52762939

  76. And another late riser.
    Morning all 😊
    There’s talk in the media that our government is trying to lose the next election so that Brexit will be delayed or even completely abandoned.
    The problem is with these slime bags you can never tell what’s going on until it’s too late to stop it.
    Why else would we still have thousands of so called migrants filling our green belt and agricultural land in acres of new housing ?
    There are no longer any jobs here for any of them.
    What is actually going on ?

    3. Re-jigging the rural voting base in time for eventual boundary commission changes, perhaps.

      1. Make sure Little Snoring includes a diverse estate on the edge of a nearby town.

      2. Don’t get me started on boundary changes Sos.
        Our village once had secondary school built in the mid 60s.
        Lots of land alongside.
        Demolished for housing. Kids now have to travel to other areas to school.
        A new school has now been built on the edge of the village on agricultural land. Now recent boundary changes have ensured the youngsters from our village will not get first choice for places.
        And one of the elderly schools in the next town is being demolished for redevelopment. Flats I suspect. And now we have proposals for new builds in our village.
        It seems the on going plague of coporate greed, over development and dodgy district councilors have struck once again. I expect a few well aimed ‘bungs’ have landed in the approriate places.

        1. The UK has taken its lessons from Brussels and created a rotten, stinking midden of greed and self-destructive policies.

    1. Led By Donkeys, aptly named, a bunch of asses.
      Amazing how quickly they could get a big screen, flatbed truck and arrange a rendezvous outside the Cummings house.
      Whose money is behind them?

      1. At risk of coming across like pp – Soros, the Clintons, Obama and Blair?

    2. I appreciate Dominic Cummings desire to protect his child. Had he not done so he could be charged with child neglect…
      I rest my case.

      Led By Donkeys Mob…..?

      2. But. . .

        Isn’t there a nice dose of double standards in effect here. There have been newspaper reports of plod trying to arrest someone for taking food to his grandmother, there was another reported incident where a woman on release from hospital being told that her hubby could not drive the 300+ miles to pick her up.

        Either the police are grossly overstepping the mark and deserve a right royal boľľacking from Boris on down, or Cummins was not abiding by the rules in which case he deserves all that the media would give him.

        There is far too much of this breaking the rules by the supposed elite who are telling us what must be done.

        1. The police are grossly overstepping the mark and deserve a right royal boll*cking.

          Cummings was looking out for the welfare of his very young son. Those criticising should tell us what they’d do under the same circumstances.

        2. Shouldn’t the police move the mob on….it’s harassment shurely!

          Anyway who was the school snitch…?

          1. When was the last time the police accused journalists of harassment? They are probably looming for some innocent bystander to arrest.

            Is it all distraction? No mention of Eid celebrations getting out of hand.

    4. Is Boris still telling us to stay home? He needs to get people back to work, the message should have changed by now. What is he trying to do to the Country?

      1. If he knew, I might be pleasantly surprised, it appears he doesn’t, so I’m wary.

        1. That’s why he won’t let DC go. It’s plain to see who the real PM is.

          1. Yep, it’s Boris.

            He knows enough to employ an enforcer to do the dirty work.
            Like Blair and Campbell.

  78. Tiptoe by the castle
    By the castle ,
    While saving my areshole,
    Tiptoe through the bluebells with me

  79. I am finished for the day. I can’t stand the pressure of knowing that someone might shop me to the red tops for having soldier neighbour in for a drink on Friday. It is all too much.

    Should I not appear tomorrow, my disappearance can squarely be bamed (sic) on C-19.

    Incidentally, I thought there was too much “jam tomorrow” in Johnson’s comments – and not enough “freedom NOW”.

    Have a jolly evening planning your bid for freedom.

    A demain – prolly.

    1. Hah, I went fly fishing with 3 guys from different households and was driven to the reservoir by one of them (tucked away in the back of the car).

        1. About 12 rainbows and 4 blue trout between us, I did see the remains of a crayfish though. Water levels the lowest I’ve seen.

      4. I tried fly fishing once, but I couldn’t find a hook small enough. That and the damn things buzz all over the place, making it difficult to catch them. Eventually I used a fly spray.

  80. How dare the MSM ruin our bank holiday weekend with all this anti Cummings malarkey

    1. You’d think they could concentrate on something important like how can I get my haircut.

  82. A very happy Monday morning, one and all.

    I must confess that I am quite overwhelmed by the birthday wishes I received from my huge NoTTLe family.

    Many, many thanks to you all and I do love you you for the joy we bring one another.

    Keep on NoTTLing – with love for one another.

    1. ‘Morning, Tom. I posted my birthday greetings at the top of the day. Hope you and Judy enjoyed the day.

  83. I shall now say Good night and good morning to all you wonderful people and sign off by letting you know that this is an e-mail, I just sent to Boris:

    Dear Mr Johnson, I have written to you before now but I beg you, in order to obtain a measure of credibility, please read the comments on this ‘blog’ page and act accordingly as you were elected to govern.

    https://nttl.blog/sunday-24-may-lockdown-is-killing-rolls-royce-and-the-government-piles-on-the-pain/

    My very best regards

    Tom Hunn and all at Not The Telegraph Letters – we are real and worried people.

    It might just swing the balance.

    A demain © Bill Thomas

    1. Lol……

      I don’t think so.

      Boros is definitely Not a Nottler and all you’ve done is ask for the site to be watched or even closed.

      1. I think it might be local overload it seems that it happens around the same time every day.
        Virgin media will be getting a rocket. We have a TV Internet and landline package. It’s not been value for money for a long time.
        But irony of ironies, it’s almost impossible to contact them. Unless of course you might spend an hour ringing and speaking to someone in India, but then you can’t understand a word they are saying.

        1. We have used talktalk since its inception and have, with the odd blip, had excellent service and value for money.

    1. Looks good, might give it a try later in the week. Did you use shrimp and crabmeat as the recipe called for?

Comments are closed.