Thursday 28 May: The public keeps calm and carries on using common sense – even when those in power don’t

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but not as good as ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be blacklisted.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/05/27/lettersthe-public-keeps-calm-carries-using-common-sense-even/

758 thoughts on “Thursday 28 May: The public keeps calm and carries on using common sense – even when those in power don’t”

  1. A very shy guy goes into a bar and sees a beautiful woman sitting at the bar. After an hour of gathering up his courage, he finally goes over and asks, “Um… excuse me, but would you mind if I sat here beside you?”

    She responds by yelling, at the top of her lungs, “NO, I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP WITH YOU!”

    Everyone in the bar turns to stare at them. Naturally, the guy is hopelessly and completely embarrassed and he slinks back to his table.

    After a few minutes, the woman walks over to him and apologises. She smiles at him and says, “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you. You see, I’m a graduate student in psychology and I’m studying how people respond to embarrassing situations.”

    To which he responds, “at the top of his lungs, WHAT DO YOU MEAN, £200?!”

    2. Not a Joke:-

      In her book “Watching the English” social anthropologist Kate Fox described how she went to a large WH Smiths outlet wearing a large shoulder bag and deliberately bumped it into people to see how many apologised, they all did.

      2. I’ve had a few occasions where somebody has bumped into me, said ‘sorry’ then appeared to be very indignant that I didn’t apologise also (even though it was their fault).

        1. Chilling is right. So chilly that spring isn’t really happening.
          Bloody Greta! I blame her. The apple crop will be dismal this year, so will the cider volume and sugar, so we’ll have a few drops of not-very-alhoholic cider… Bloody Greta!
          {:-((

          1. ‘Morning, Paul, many of your ‘Climate Emergency’ advocates might point out that Greta is an anagram of Great – it is also an anagram of Grate.

          6. I could have made a small amount, perhaps one or two presses, of Des’s Enigma last year, but my Newton Wonder was a total dead loss. Not enough apples for a single press.

            I’ve still got a couple of bottles from 2018, largely intended for culinary use, I did Roast Belly Pork at the weekend, marinaded overnight in the contents of a bottle of cider and cooked on a bed sage & onion stuffing made up with the marinade cider.

            I nearly posted “Marinaded in a bottle of cider” then realised the fun you sarky buggers would have made of that!

          7. We ran out of homemade cider a while ago. Much better than shop-bought cider – light, dry, apple-flavoured, petillant, Reinheitsgebot-compliant, and about 8%. Was wonderful!

          8. Mine’s a bit too acid for my taste, but one of the neighbours loves it.

  4. British public asked to do their ‘civic duty’ to get the country out of lockdown. 27 May 2020 • 8:33pm

    Matt Hancock said people had a “civic duty” to follow instructions to self isolate. He said: “This will be voluntary at first, because we trust everyone to do the right thing. But we can quickly make it mandatory if that’s what it takes.”

    Morning everyone. Yes we trust them so much that we are going to make it mandatory. One supposes from this conflation of opposing principles that Hancock’s definition of “Civic Duty” contains no element of Patriotism or Personal Freedom but is simply to do as you are told by the Government. This fits in well with a Political Class that holds views diametrically opposed to those of the general population and which they ignore or evade if possible and make illegal if it is not. The present Cross Channel migrant traffic is typical. The Home Office is clearly beyond the control of Government; is in actuality a private Criminal Enterprise, but since they are carrying out the unadmitted policies of the State the Elites close their eyes to it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/27/british-public-asked-do-civic-duty-get-country-lockdown/

    1. ‘Morning, Minty, warming us up for what we already know; the proliferation of the Police State Stasi.

    2. I wonder if police, journalists,doctors, nurses politicians and other essential workers will be forced to self isolate for 14 days or will they be exempt. It is possible that someone coming out of 14 day isolation could be forced to go back into isolation if they are tracked and traced down again. I think this new system will be hard to enforce and very unpopular.

      1. Morning Scotty. This is just another load of self justifying Bull. I no longer pay any attention to their pronouncements!

        1. “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”

        2. Don’t automatically write off conspiracy theories as bullshonet, more than a couple have proved to be true.

          1. The events of the last few years have made me reach for the old tin foil hat more than once but what cracks me up about this one is in all probability the majority of the believers will have smartphones.

          2. I’m pretty sure Lee Harvey Oswald didn’t shoot Kennedy. In fact I’m 100% sure.

        3. The nugget of truth in there is that the Gates foundation has apparently funded research into vaccines that leave a small invisible tattoo under the skin. I certainly do not want that.

    4. The ‘electric fog’ that the article talks about, has been there since Marconi first start broadcasting and the BBC are happy to contribute to it.

      1. Since the traditional Snake Oil, technology has spawned mutiple cod devices. ‘Energy savers’, car engine tuning devices, and many others. Big Clive exposes these scams, in his own inimitable way. He is particularly concerned with supposed UV steriliser lamps. Whereas most of these products harm your wallet, the false claims for these lamps can have potentially lethal consequences as they do not kill the virus.

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

        For those who care: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du8yQeQdMBk

        1. Radar (RDF as it was initially known) which helped win the Battle of Britain, started off as research into death rays!

          1. But a quick calculation scotched that idea. RV Jones was working on infrared aircraft detection and he soon realised that atmospheric losses were too severe.

    5. Through a process of quantum oscillation, the 5GBioShield USB key balances and re-harmonises the disturbing frequencies arising from the electric fog induced by devices, such as laptops, cordless phones, wi-fi, tablets, et cetera,” it adds.

      To read this gobbledygook is to know that it is a scam!

      1. Quantum oscillation, eh? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_oscillations_(experimental_technique)
        “Quantum oscillations describes a series of related experimental techniques used to map the Fermi surface of a metal in the presence of a strong magnetic field.[1] These techniques are based on the principle of Landau quantization of Fermions moving in a magnetic field.[2] For a gas of free fermions in a strong magnetic field, the energy levels are quantized into bands, called the Landau levels, whose separation is inversely proportional to the strength of the magnetic field. In a quantum oscillation experiment, the external magnetic field is varied, which causes the Landau levels to pass over the Fermi surface, which in turn results in oscillations of the electronic density of states at the Fermi level; this produces oscillations in the many material properties which depend on this, including resistance (the Shubnikov-de Haas effect), Hall resistance,[2] and magnetic susceptibility (the de Haas-van Alphen effect). Observation of quantum oscillations in a material is considered a signature of Fermi liquid behaviour.[3]

        Quantum oscillations have been used to study high temperature superconducting materials such as cuprates and pnictides.[1] Studies using these experiments have shown that the ground state of underdoped cuprates behave similar to a Fermi liquid, and display characteristics such as Landau quasiparticles.[4]

        Makes complete sense!

    6. ‘Morning, Largely, nicked from Ar$ebook:
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/293cf9e770e7834eb79ce6abb97947e6b243bfdfc9dd68d1ac9dd42594f98b25.jpg

      Comment: David Giles, ‎Conservative Minds
      26 May ·

      The BBC is no longer the British Broadcasting Corporation that our parents knew and loved. It has now been taken over by Socialists, Separatists, Europhiles, Remainers and Quislings.

      It is using our money to employ thousands of left-wing journalists on multiple TV and radio channels which constantly deliver left-wing propaganda not only to the U.K. but to the entire world.

      It must be broken up within the term of this Parliament.

    1. Already out of date. The snowball has melted and DC remains in place, thank goodness.

  8. Nigel Farage, writing in The Telegraph, exposures more examples of French collusion.

    The French are now trying to cover up their collusion in this illegal immigration scam

    The French Navy is acting now in an even more underhand and deceitful way, as they know we’ve been watching them

    My recent excursion into the Channel and exposure of the scandalous ‘handover’ process, in which the French Navy escorts illegal immigrant boats into UK waters for collection by our Border Force, has had a huge reaction.

    Millions of people have viewed the footage and photographs I obtained. Thousands of members of the public have let their feelings about this vexed issue be known in online comments. And, as a further result of my disclosure, many Conservative MPs are now piling pressure onto the Home Secretary, Priti Patel. These politicians, representing the wishes of their constituents, know she must act quickly.
    At the weekend, hints were dropped that change was in the air and that the British government was about to crack down on this exploitative, dangerous and criminal trade. Not having implicit trust in our national politicians, however, I decided to go back out into the Channel this week to find out for myself how Patel’s attempt to get tough is really going.

    As I reported last week, when the handover which I witnessed was complete, I heard an exchange on VHF radio between the French Navy and the UK Border Force in effect acknowledging that they were going to have to do things differently in future to avoid public scrutiny. Having been rumbled by me, they knew there would be an outcry if this racket was seen to be carrying on.

    As I reached mid-Channel at dawn yesterday, I saw a huge operation underway. A British spotter plane had flown down from Doncaster; drones were up in the air; Border Force vessels and a lifeboat from Dover were responding to calls of several sightings in our waters. I estimate that by 10am, seven boats and 65 people had been picked up. Incredibly, one person had made the journey by kayak. Unhelpfully, at the time of writing it was not possible to get a precise figure from the Home Office about the number of arrivals yesterday because it did not publish any data. I accept that my calculation may therefore be on the conservative side.

    Another mystery with which I grappled while at sea concerned the whereabouts of the French Navy. Previously, it was easy to follow its movements. The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a tracking system that uses transponders on ships which provide information about vessel type, dimension, course and speed. This week, the French Navy’s AIS was turned off. It was only through the use of radar and excellent visibility on a beautiful morning in the Channel that the skipper of my boat could see a very slow-moving French vessel heading into British waters.

    Last week when I revealed the shameful ‘handover’ process, nobody accused me of not telling the truth about the French naval escort because the AIS tracker proved what had happened. This week, as they approached British waters, the French Navy put a 1-mile exclusion zone around their vessel and asked those in the shipping lanes to change course. Their excuse for these special requirements was that they were on a ‘search and rescue mission’. This was entirely untrue because the illegal immigrants – who, let’s not forget, were fleeing the safe haven of France – were in a very modern inflatable dinghy moving easily on calm, glassy seas.

    Unlike last week, the French Navy kept much further away from the immigrant dinghy and, with their AIS turned off, they changed course as soon as they saw our vessel, as if to say: “This dinghy has nothing to do with us”. Again in contrast to last week’s performance, the French Navy issued no threats to our boat either this week.

    As the dinghy entered British waters, we approached it. There were 13 people on board. I have to say that one or two of them were pretty aggressive towards us. The vast majority of passengers were young men of fighting age, leading me to conclude that a principal reason for their flight is that they are dodging conscription. It is also entirely possible that some of those arriving were part of the defeated ISIS caliphate army. A sobering thought. Before long, the Dover lifeboat and Border Force had arrived and they were then taxied back into Dover to begin their new life in England. The ease with which these people are welcomed into Britain as though they are in need, despite having left an equally safe European country an hour or two earlier, makes me so angry.

    Although Britain has given France £61 million of taxpayers’ money since 2015 to stop this scam, the French continue to blame us for somehow creating this situation. The difference is, they are acting now in an even more underhand and deceitful way. Reports that the Home Office has contacted Roman Quaedvlieg, the former head of Australia’s border force, to consult him on potential measures to halt the illegal boats is a start. However, I would suggest going even further and asking Tony Abbott, the former Prime Minister of Australia, to come and help Priti Patel directly. Mr Abbott is well disposed towards this country and he knows from experience that crises such as this one are, in the end, down to political will. His experience in handling illegal immigration into Australia by sea would prove invaluable.

    The traffickers are now using Brexit as their key selling point. If we do not, as I hope, extend the transition period beyond the end of 2020, I predict there will be a massive influx this summer. For this reason, our politicians cannot wait until the end of transition for new legislation. Priti Patel must act now.

    The vast majority of Westminster’s politicians and our mainstream media organisations may think this issue is unimportant. As my report from the Channel last week showed, however, the public care about this very deeply. Believe it or not, there are many sound and legitimate reasons for caring about one’s own country, whatever myths the Islington elite chooses to peddle. Priti Patel must not forget this.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/05/27/french-now-trying-cover-collusion-illegal-immigration-scam/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    1. ‘Although Britain has given France £61 million of taxpayers’ money since
      2015 to stop this scam, the French continue to blame us for somehow
      creating this situation.’

      To be fair, they have a point. I have seen reports of ‘agencies’ in France giving illegal migrants information on what they can claim in the U.K. as of right and how to do this. The pseudo-generosity of these benefits is the magnet that draws them over the Channel.

      They must be told they cannot stay in the U.K. They must be speedily removed whatever without exception. This action will do more than words to halt the migrant conveyor belt. Human rights activists will scream but the essential point is illegality can never be rewarded. Change the law or enforce the one we have.

      1. Entering illegally must be the priority. Immediate arrest for breaking the law, incarceration and deportation, no appeal before deportation. You want to appeal – appeal from abroad, at your own cost.

    2. “The ease with which these people are welcomed into Britain as though they are in need, despite having left an equally safe European country an hour or two earlier, makes me so angry.”

      #MeToo!

    3. 319661+up ticks,
      Morning Ntn,
      Please let the peoples also consider that this issue is being handled by the same peoples that handled the referendum victory from 24/6/2016.
      I would put money on the fact that every ship that used / uses the English Channel has been catalogued, and records kept for years & the establishment have been using the Nelson technique.
      But having the tiger by the tail they could no longer keep the lid on.
      So also keep ” party containment” in mind by the very same crew that we have seen / seeing in action before.

      Without one getting their feet wet the simple answer is NO WELFARE.

    4. Current Government immigration policy appears to be to flood this Country with people from the Third World, preferably of the moslem persuasion. The declaration that we need numbers to meet the demands of the economy has for years had a hollow ring to it. A more efficient and hence productive economy would embrace a highly trained workforce employed in highly automated industrial, agricultural etc. sectors. A move to more efficient production would require fewer people to produce more output, not more people to basically stand still economically. The Government has the situation completely the wrong way round and one can infer from the Government’s actions that there is another agenda running the immigration policy.

      1. Yes, what is the percentage of moslem men in full-time work (not including mini-cabbing)? As for moslem women, forget it!

        1. IIRC 85% or thereabouts economically inactive women: about right for brood mares. Men, I can’t recall.

          2. I think economically inactive men might have been about 45% or so. But of course some minicab drivers could easily be officially economically inactive – i.e. on benefits.

  9. Good morning all. Blue skies and bright sun – PLUS a very heavy dew.

    I wonder when the so-called editors of newspapers will realise that having ten or twelve pages devoted to the plague every day is self-defeating.

    1. Not only self-defeating, Bill, but effing boring. Hell, we might all be forced to find mental stimulation on NTTL… ;-))

    2. ‘Morning Bill. Just more lazy ‘journalism’. So many stories of interest out there, just no proper journalists to go after them.

  10. Morning all. Here are the DC letters ……again…

    SIR – There are many who share Mike Carter’s view (Letters, May 27) that Mr Cummings’s actions have meant that people will now interpret the lockdown rules as they please.

    I, however, am offended by any suggestion that, because some people break the rules, I will do the same.

    Obviously, I will not: common sense and a general sense of responsibility prevent that. I believe this applies to the vast majority of the country.

    Rev John D Robinson

    Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire

    SIR – I agree with Denis Sharp (Letters, May 27). I want the people guiding us through this awful time to receive every help with their well-being – so they can concern themselves with ours.

    In addition, anyone who thinks there isn’t one rule for those in power, and another for the rest of us, is either a fool or naive.

    Angela Klemer

    Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex

    SIR – The Prime Minister has been around long enough to know that, in democratic politics, it is public opinion that rules.

    There is some sympathy for Dominic Cummings’s position – but the anger over his behaviour is far greater. Boris Johnson may feel a moral duty to give his backing to his principal adviser, but he is wrong to do so.

    Jonathan Firth

    Royston, Hertfordshire

    SIR – I respect the loyalty of the Cabinet during this fiasco, but would ask them to show the same loyalty to voters, many of whom are extremely angry and that someone responsible for advising the Government clearly operates outside Government advice.

    The side of Mr Cummings’s story that involves driving to Durham to ensure the welfare of his child could be debated. However, his drive from Durham to Barnard Castle was a clear breach of the guidelines.

    Celia Wright

    Sturminster Newton, Dorset

    SIR – I wonder how many of the 40-odd Conservative MPs agitating over Dominic Cummings owe him their seats.

    They complain that the episode is damaging the Government, without realising that it is they who are exacerbating the situation. A little party loyalty wouldn’t go amiss.

    Bill Swanson

    Hampton Hill, Middlesex

    SIR – I may be in a small minority, but I wonder if Mr Cummings has done the Government, and thus the country, a favour.

    If this woeful business has made people more inclined to take small but necessary risks, that may be just what is needed. The likelihood of the NHS being overwhelmed has passed and there seems little doubt that the worst effects of the pandemic in Britain are now not directly to do with the virus.

    The economy needs a large dose of normality and the sooner the population realises this the better.

    Dr Martin Shutkever

    Pontefract, West Yorkshire

    1. Far too much self-righteous indignation in the letters and too little common sense.

      1. I prefer to call it, “Good Sense”, cynarch, because it ain’t that common.

    2. Most of them have missed the point – that the witch-hunt is aimed at Boris and Brexit.

    3. Ms Klemer is spot on. It has always been thus – however, in this instance, Cummings did what we would all do. He’s just more public.

  11. Morning again

    SIR – I think it is good to see lockdown easing and the public using beaches and open-air spaces after such a long recess, but unless public lavatories are reopened immediately there is likely to be another health problem.

    Without cafes, pubs or public loos, where are people expected to go?

    Terry Nigh

    Shanklin, Isle of Wight

    1. What do you think shop doorways were made for, Terry? There aren’t any phone boxes any more…

      1. Some years ago cycling through Colchester town centre on early morning starts I saw some quite awful sights in doorways and in one particular alleyway. The smell and sight of pools of urine and much else was evident. I didn’t fancy the cleaning staff’s job.

        1. We had a sheltered and tempting doorway at our office. The landlords had to install a light to discourage them and when that didn’t work another door.

  13. SIR — A seven-year wait for an allotment to become available (Letters, May 27) is, sadly, not very long.

    In London, some boroughs’ waiting lists are now closed, and others have a wait time of more than 40 years. Perhaps they should approve fewer planning applications and convert some of their land into allotments.

    Mary Moore
    London E2

    Again — like millions upon millions more obtuse humans — you miss the point, Mary.

    Perhaps if humans were not such irresponsible, reckless, immoderate and profligate breeders (reproducing nearly eight times more clones of themselves that the planet is capable of handling), there would be much, much more of everything to go around.

    1. Poor wee Mary. That land is potentially worth millions. Why would they give it to the likes of you to grow spuds on?

      1. I can’t help wondering if Poor Wee Mary — along with millions of other similarly vacuous homeowners — is one of those who have idiotically concreted over her own garden instead of using it for its primary purpose: growing vegetables?

        1. Hi Grizz

          She lives in E2. I doubt there was a garden.

          Lucky for me when i lived in Wapping there was an atrium lit by natural light with lots of ornamental bushes.

    2. I’m constantly bemused by the refusal of the authorities to question the wisdom of unregulated and almost exponential population growth, I worry that since the last reservoir was built in 1979 the population has increased by at least 10 million, I worry that we can only produce 50% of the food we need, which leads to my main worry which is a prolonged drought here and crop failures in Canada or Germany would make the present irritations pale into insignificance and significant civil unrest .

      1. Here’s part of a Christopher Booker article from 2012. Unsurprisingly the Brussels cabal is involved.

        Emphasis is mine.

        As big a story as any, however, was the ongoing drama of our “wettest-ever drought” as, despite record recent rainfall, we are told that hosepipe bans are still unlikely to be lifted because we don’t have enough water to go round. And here, it turns out, there is a startling twist to the tale.

        The great water shambles, as we know, centres on two major failings of national policy. One is the water companies’ failure to plug the leaks that are costing us nearly as much water every two years as is contained in all our reservoirs. The other is their failure to add to that reservoir capacity, which has barely increased in the 20 years since water was privatised, despite our 10 per cent growth in population.

        What makes this particularly odd, however, is that only a few years back, the last government was gung-ho about the companies’ plans to build five major new reservoirs in the south of England alone, where the shortage is most acute, and to extend three others. So what happened to all those plans? One after another they have all been shelved or turned down altogether by the Government, as when last year our Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, vetoed Thames Water’s plan for a huge £1 billion new reservoir near Abingdon, saying that there was “no immediate need” for new reservoir building. This was only months after she had sent back to the drawing board another well-advanced scheme near Portsmouth.

        Astonishingly, it now emerges, it has become quite deliberate government policy to keep Britain short of water. And the explanation for this baffling volte-face lies in a “Communication” issued in 2007 by the European Commission (COM (2007) 414 Final) “addressing the challenge of water scarcity and droughts in the European Union”.

        This document was based on the belief that Europe was facing a water crisis due to global warming. The only way to meet the prospect of severe droughts, it argued, was to encourage us all to use water much more “efficiently”. Not once in this 14-page document is there any mention of the need to improve the storage of water. From now on, the policy of member states must be, by every possible means, to reduce the use of water, not least by making it more expensive. This is the policy that our government has now adopted, as was confirmed last year by Mrs Spelman’s White Paper, Water for Life. In all its 105 pages, there are plenty of mentions of climate change and the need to conserve water in face of the predicted droughts. As Mrs Spelman put it, when rivers start to run dry and cracks appear in those empty reservoirs, “we must recognise these as warning signs of what we might expect to see in a changing climate”. But not once, as in the EU’s paper, is there any mention of a need to build new reservoirs. The only message is that we must learn to conserve this “precious resource”, not least by making us pay more for it.

        Herein, it seems, lies the explanation for our current utterly bizarre plight, wherein Mrs Spelman pronounces that there is “no immediate need” for new reservoirs, and Ofwat tells water companies, as it did last week, that there is no need for them to fix those leaks before 2015.
        If the people of Britain, not least the 20 million in the South East still under a hosepipe ban, were aware that this was being brought about by a quite deliberate policy, backed by the crackpot projections of our climate change-obsessed Met Office, they would be very angry indeed. But so far, Mrs Spelman has been remarkably successful in hiding from us just what a dirty and nonsensical game she is playing.

        1. ‘Morning, Korky.

          If I can buy my gas and electricity from any supplier I choose, I wonder why the same choice doesn’t operate for water?

          Just a thought.

        3. Not content with covering farmland with housing, are we to sacrifice even more of it for reservoirs?

          1. Governments over the last 4 or 5 decades have placed us in the position of requiring more water and housing by forcing the population to burgeon. We are where we are and without an easing of population growth the growing demand on the water resource will eventually place the Country in trouble even without a drought.
            If the people could rely on the politicians to reduce immigration drastically then the pressure on land for water and housing will not grow at the rate it is currently. However, it appears that Johnson is going to continue to plough the same furrow as his recent predecessors i.e. drag as many people in as he can get away with and to hell with infrastructure and resource management.

          2. Can’t grow crops without water.
            Can’t survive without water.
            We just need to stop mass immigration. Fewer people will mean less pressure on land, food and water supplies.

        4. What?
          A huge policy change imposed on the British people without consent and without publicity.
          This on its own is a reason to leave the EU, never mind all the rest!

          2. But at least the consumption of toilet paper per capita/arse will be reduced. The forests can then be safely cut down to make space for all the excess mouths…

      3. Yo Datz

        I am sure that some of the Newbies entering the country are partial to a bit o f ‘ooman flesh’

        It will be Halal as well , as those doing the stabbing do not stun whitey, before he robs and knifes him

      4. And in an economy struggling already with automation making people redundant, how does it help to take in more uneducated and unskilled people? Emptying the shonethole countries will only stimulate further population growth as well, as they will still breed excessively over there as well as excessively over here, because over here they get paid to do so, and over there it’s the habit, and they need lots of babies to pass on their genes. That these “lots of babies” are then fed by the likes of Geldof makes the situation even worse.

        1. and yet any attempt to vocalise these thoughts out side of this environment would cause industrial quantities of lefty opprobrium upon ones head and probably a visit from the Hate Crime Stazi. ho hum

        2. The EU have always considered the UK to be the Immigration dustbin of Europe .

          I remember Geldof and his live aid concerts regarding sending food to Africa,
          a lady posted on some blog awhile ago who lives in Africa pointed out that mountains
          of food from that time was left on the dusty roads to rot because there wasn’t
          the transportation take the food to the villages that required the food,
          there is a moral in there somewhere .

          1. I read about that as well .
            Clothes that were sent were also totally unsuitable for hot climates .

            Sadly people pollute rivers and all water sources , all African rivers have been tamperd with .. The message about investment in boreholes and clean water seems to have fallen on the deaf corrupt ears of African governments .

          2. Indeed so. Also, the wealthy people of India, such as Bollywood
            take no notice of the true poverty of those living in boxes,
            they just ignore them. They just think the bleeding heart
            people of the West are deluded dogooders. They’ll say there has
            always been very poor people in the world and there will
            always be very poor people in the world.

          3. “For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.”(Mark 14, 7)

        3. Good morning ,

          Just wondering whether French and German language in our schools will be replaced by Urdu and Arabic , or are languages no longer taught in British schools.

          Our big cities will soon collapse into lawless poverty stricken over bred hellholes similar to Calcutta , Lagos , Cairo or Nairobi.

          1. The numbers of schoolchildren in Scotland who take French exams at Higher level has fallen dramatically since the 1960s.

          2. As most of the pupils will already speak Urdu or Arabic as their mother tongue, there’ll be no need to teach them, I would have thought.

        4. Morning, OB.

          I’ve made a similar reply to NtN further down. It isn’t the economy that’s running mass immigration, that is merely a deflection mechanism. If Johnson & Co maintain the current level of immigration during and post the CV-19 period it will confirm that a replacement programme is being followed: there can be no other reason.

          1. I’m sure you appreciate the difficulty they are in. Fire at the boats and the whole world media would explode. How then do you turn them back? Once they land, they have no papers and thus their origins cannot be determined. The vast army of left wing ‘human rights’ lawyers descend and the cases are never, in the long term, won. It’s a very intractable problem if France chooses to make it so. And with Micron running them, and desperate for our cash, the battle will be very difficult to win. Internment on a remote part of the UK seems the only sensible answer, until they choose to leave. But with the Human Rights Act still in place, the lawyers would have a field day.

          3. Who is advocating firing on them? Internment, certainly, and in the most inhospitable part of the UK.
            A first step would be to cease all of those things that create the ‘draw’ mechanism i.e. allowances, free health care, room and board etc. Secondly announce that illegal immigrants will NEVER gain British nationality nor indefinite leave to remain and hence no family reunion. Third on the list, no appeal mechanism and certainly no legal aid funding.

          5. Take their photos and fingerprints. Then put them on the first ferry straight back to France. No exceptions. Anyone coming into the UK via this illegal route will not be granted asylum or given the right to stay under any circumstances. Any boats used will be confiscated.
            And maybe fire warning shots across the bows of the French naval vessels escorting them, especially as they are endangering others by turning off their transponders in the busiest shipping lane in the world.
            Watch as the numbers drop to zero.

          6. Fingerprinting, DNA Testing and, for those claiming to be under 18, medical & dental examinations, including joint x-rays.

      5. I’m constantly bemused by the refusal of the authorities to question the wisdom of unregulated and almost exponential population growth,

        But here’s the crazy bit, they are concerned about population growth, and want to curb it, but at the same time encourage people from overpopulated countries to come to the West, where we’re not (or weren’t) overpopulated and numbers were falling. They want to cure all diseases,i.e. nature’s way of keeping the population in check, and their main curb on unlimited population growth is to push for abortion (wouldn’t prevention be better?). Bill Gates pushes for vaccinations as a means of population control, because when more children survive, the parents will have fewer children….possibly, maybe, maybe not.
        Their ideas are schizophrenic.

    3. Europeans are not profligate breeders, but for some reason, our leaders insist on continuing to import those that are.

      1. A lot of those in Europe are not (Norway: 4·5m; Denmark: 5·5m etc), but how do you justify a small island country like the UK having an atrociously scandalous 67m?

        If that is not ‘profligate’, then I don’t know what is.

      2. They used to be – 10 or 12 children was perfectly normal in Victorian times. Not all survived, of course.

        1. They didn’t have “our” NHS to keep them all alive. Plus bennies and everything else, paid for by us.

    4. Britons were.

      The natives were having fewer children – because they couldn’t afford it. That lead to a shrinking population.

      The problem is Labour imported 250,000 people a year. People who have, on average, 4-5 children. People who have few skills, who are mostly welfare dependent.

      If Labour hadn’t so deliberately forced open the front door the population would be below 50 million, not the 75 it is. Child benefit needs to stop. Housing benefit must be reduced dramatically to prevent feckless wasters being rewarded for breeding at the tax payers expense.

  14. Dunkirk’s remaining ‘Little Ships’ should be granted veteran status ahead of its 80th anniversary. 28 May 2020 • 7:24am.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f7d65c60be491b02272d376f27280f118a4d41cfce6b9629d026521bb987cc28.jpg

    The Armed Forces Covenant commits to treating veterans fairly and with respect and could be applied to Little Ships, the Association says.

    “I would like to see our boats recognised as veterans. Justly recognised as what they gave and did for the freedoms we enjoyed up until a few months ago.”

    I personally see no reason why this could not be done since it is purely an administrative measure though one blinks at the reasoning. The Armed Forces Covenant is now just a worthless phrase while the Country that the men who manned this fleet believed in, and risked their lives for, has been destroyed.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/28/dunkirks-remaining-little-ships-should-granted-veteran-status/

        1. I know. But given the massive reductions in manpower it doesn’t surprise me that the troughers are looking around for other things to sustain them.

    2. Dunkirk’s little ships should re-enact the invasion, with additional coastguard and naval support, fully armed, to stop the invasion coming from France….

      1. “Dunkirk’s little ships should re-enact the invasion…”

        By running down and sinking the dinghies.

    4. 319661+ up ticks,
      Morning As,
      Agreed, but it does leave us with the conundrum what to do with a giant surplus of air brushes,

    5. Yo Minty

      May I fiddle a little please

      The Armed Forces Covenant commits to treating veterans fairly and with respect and could be applied to Little Ships, to those who served in Northern Ireland the Association says

      1. Talking of Sparky – that pushy nurse has been silent lately. Anyone know anything?

    2. Morning, Bleau.

      You can tell that cartoon didn’t originate in the UK, otherwise she would be saying (in proper English):

      “You are not wearing a spotted face-mask with a tartan shirt! :•)

      1. ‘Morning, George, it’s not even tartan but rather a checked shirt, or even a chequered shirt.

    3. At my garden centre visit, there were a couple of us oldies with the masks and gloves syndrome, but most of us were truly virginal in those terms. They were allowing a max 200 capacity, then one in, one out.

  17. To brighten your morning, here is an extract from The Grimes today:

    “Priti Patel is considering the introduction of new powers to turn back migrants off the coast as the number of Channel crossings continues to rise.

    Sixty migrants were brought ashore yesterday after being intercepted in the Channel in four incidents. Eighty arrived on Tuesday. The arrivals bring to about 1,730 the number arriving this year, compared with 1,890 in the whole of last year. Only 155 have been returned to Europe since January last year.

    The number of crossings has increased since the lockdown began. Ms Patel, the home secretary, who promised last year to make crossings an “infrequent phenomena” by the spring, has ordered officials to look at existing powers to deal with the problem.

    She is also preparing to reform the asylum processes, while looking at new laws which will allow UK cutters to turn back vessels.”

    Impressive, eh?

        1. From Wiki: “Patel attended Watford Grammar School for Girls,[13] before studying Economics at Keele University and then pursuing postgraduate studies in British Government and Politics at the University of Essex.” She really has no excuse, but perhaps the Grimes hack was mangling her words.

      1. 319661+ up ticks.
        As,
        You can certainly hum that tune again.
        The abuse as in non use of people power gives these odious issue carte blanche.

    3. I thought she was locked in a cupboard under the stairs.
      Three words would suffice.
      Stop this now !
      Obviously just carrying out orders.

    5. Take them back across the channel, sink their boats, stop all their benefits and the journeys will stop – simples

    6. The government already has the powers to return them to France and PP is in charge of ensuring the Border Force protects our coastline from illegal invaders. They should be arrested when they are brought ashore by the RN which should replace the Border Force in the Channel . The government is just standing by watching these illegal events taking place daily now. The illegals should have no support from lawyers and therefore no legal aid or appeals. Identification of individual illegals should be taken before they are returned to France. They must wait at least 10 years before trying to make a legal attempt to come to the UK and if successful they must never be allowed to become UK citizens

        1. Who was not “replaced ” on last night’s Newsnight, but had asked for a “night off”.

          3. ‘Morning, J, Peddy has already nominated her for the MRD Award for that bleat.

          5. I prefer ‘Oldest’ so that I might read in chronological order.

            It’s only when the comments have exceeded 400 that I refresh to ‘Newest’.

          6. If I haven’t had enough of my daily “fix” I open another tab and start from “oldest” as well.

        1. But bows and arrows would recapture the spirit of Agincourt rather better!

          (Pistol, along with Bardolph and Nym, didn’t come out of the play about it very well!)

    8. Not to stop this invasion immediately is immoral, both for the migrants themselves who are paying large sums of money to smugglers, and to the British people, who do not need an influx of people coming here illegally, jumping the legal immigration queue, and either taking up UK jobs, undercutting wages, living in indentured servitude while they pay back the smugglers, or living off welfare.
      We’re about to have the highest level of unemployment for decades if not longer,and economic depression worse than we’ve seen in living memory, and we do not need additional people coming here to add to that.

      1. ‘Morning, Ims2, “…while they pay back the smugglers,”

        With benefit money, scrounged from we tax-payers.

        1. Have they drawn an illustrated flow chart following the money and showing that the British taxpayer is actually paying the traffickers? They should do so and display it on billboards throughout Britain.

    9. New powers are not needed.

      All she has to do is enforce the current ones. Tell the french minister to do his damned job and process the illegals.

  18. I have just telephoned the GP surgery. After seven minutes of “Janet and John go to the doctor” recorded messages, then some really hideous muzak, I was able to speak to a human (sort of) being.

    One of the laboriously read messages amused me. “If you are feeling ill, do not visit the surgery – we need to keep our staff well to be able to deal with patients.”

    A sort of Catch-22.

    1. Morning all 😊
      Last week I had a similar problem. It took ten minutes before I spoke to the receptionist.
      Then she was giving instructions to someone else.
      She put me on hold. I rang off, she rang back 5 minutes later.
      And arranged a call back from the GP before 6pm. Which he did having looked at my records it was an easy conversation. But there are no face to face appointments at the moment.
      So I’ll just have to keep limping and taking the tablets. 😕

    2. Do we presume that people who work in doctors surgeries do not mix with the general public at all? No shopping no outdoor activities.
      If, eventually, a film is made of this whole episode I think it might come under the Science Fiction category.

      1. Nah – they live there. Permanently. Haven’t seen the family for months…{:¬))

    3. Or Covid-19…..Like you I loathe ‘automated’ telephone exchanges….

    4. From Below

      Lady filing nails and reading ‘Hello magazine, answeres ‘phone

      “Doctor Crippens surgery, how may we help you”

      Caller “Well, I have a medical problem”

      Nail filer:

      “Press #1 for heart problems
      Press #2 for stomach pains
      Press #3 for STDs
      Press #4 for serious bleeding
      Press #5 for going into Labour (this is not for changing Postal Vote, Mr Rashid controls that

      You will now be redirected to our associate in India”

      Just think how much money and the number of immigrants this will save

      Asian doctors do not have to catch ‘little ferry’ from France
      Medical Practices can cut down on number of Staff
      Medical Center carparks can be sold for housing

      1. My grandfather was one of the last people to be treated by Dr Crippen, who was not as black as he was presented. The Donald Pleasance film is apparently a rather more accurate rendition than the popular press portrayal.

        Unfortunately, the treatment did not work and my grandfather was stone deaf by his mid 20s. That necessitated a career change since he’d been a trader on the Liverpool cotton exchange. Hence the purchase of the mineral rights to High Peak and a remotely operated business!

        1. Were there not doubts raised a decade or two ago that the body found in the house was not that of his wife and that he may, after all, been innocent of her murder?
          Something to do with the age of the body or the wall that hid it I believe.

          1. I read somewhere that a recent test on the body (of which they still had samples) showed it to be male. However I don’t know how true this was.

          2. I read somewhere that a recent test on the body (of which they still had samples) showed it to be male. However I don’t know how true this was.

          3. Yes, that is another aspect of the articles I remember.
            But it also seems that the body had been walled up several years before the Crippens moved into the house.

    5. I telephoned the vets this morning because way back in January, the vet had told me he wanted me to bring the dog in for a check-up in six months’ time before he prescribed more drugs for him. It seems the vet will telephone me next week (and charge me for the consultation!). Quite how he’ll assess my dog’s walk and muscle tone, check his heart, lungs and teeth over the phone is beyond me. If I’ve got to do all that and report to the vet, they should be paying ME!

      1. Surely, to protect patient confidentiality, the vet and the dog have a one to one skype?

        1. That, too, would be problematic; I don’t have Skype on any of my machines. I use my computer for accessing blogs like this, reading the racing results (when there are any), catching up with Horse and Hound and the local rag, reading my emails and that’s it!

  19. 319661+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    Is there any strength in that priti patel is having a
    tailor made, throne type, suitable for personage of such standing or in this case sitting chair constructed, for erection on the Dover front-line beach, completion date of chair to be disgust at a cobra meeting when a date can be agreed for a meeting, sometime in 2022 has been mentioned.

  20. BBC Breakfast TV

    A Dr Iqbal, a COVID Track and Tracer volunteer was unable to give clear answers to questions about the impact of the scheme on multiple sequential assessments of COVID risk exposure and the consequential cost to employers.

    She said the guidelines were too vague.

        1. Any minister you can think of. One of the presnters and then nothing. Mouth in trousers as we say in my part of the world.

    2. I sincerely hope not.
      Though I did like his answer to Robert Peston about child care

    4. Owen Paterson is the only possible replacement for the Bonking Buffoon – the trouble with him is that he is too decent and has too much integrity.

      Remember he got sacked by Callmedave for understanding the Somerset Level flooding when he was the minister responsible and for having the wrong attitude towards both the EU and climate change.

      1. I have never understood why he wasn’t brought back to the forefront in some way, seemed like a good bloke who got to the bottom of the problem.

  23. From Tuesday’s DT.

    This attempt to destroy Dominic Cummings has failed

    Here was a sorry repeat of the demented days of prorogation

    CHARLES MOORE

    Dominic Cummings gave a public account of himself last night. He trounced the media mob seeking his scalp. His was the story of two parents who had to decide very quickly what was best for their young son.

    On Friday 27 March, his wife, Mary Wakefield, was so ill with Covid-like symptoms that she rang him at work to ask him to hurry home. Mr Cummings was photographed running out of 10 Downing Street to join her. That night, they discussed matters further.

    Not only was his wife ill: the exhausted Mr Cummings thought it overwhelmingly likely, given her infection and the rapid spread of Covid-19 in Number Ten, that he would soon go down with it. They saw they must make arrangements for the care of their four-year-old son, Cedi, if they were both incapacitated.

    This care could not be provided in their household, or by Ms Wakefield’s relations in London, who had other young children to look after. The rational answer was to head north to Mr Cummings’s family near Durham. The couple could isolate with Cedi in a cottage hard by his parents’ farmhouse. If they both became too ill, his sister and nieces had kindly offered to look after the boy.

    So they drove north. Much has been made of the 270-mile journey, as if its length made it wicked, but the geographical fact is that Co. Durham is a long way from London. Only a comically Westminster-centred view of the world regards distance from London as a moral aberration.

    There the Cummings family holed up, with Dominic, in particular, seriously unwell. They self-isolated, and never saw other family members except at the required distance. After about a week, their young boy fell ill with a high fever and vomiting. His parents rang 999 and were advised to get him to hospital, where he stayed the night. The next day he was much better and was found not to have Covid-19. Mr Cummings picked mother and son up from the hospital without getting out of the car.

    Once Boris Johnson became so ill with the virus that he had to go into hospital, Mr Cummings became ever more needed in London. He sought medical advice about whether, from the point of view of infection, he could return to work. He was told he could. His wife, however, was worried that his sight seemed to have been affected by Covid-19 and so insisted that they test-drive locally before undertaking the long return journey.

    Hence, he explained yesterday, the 30-mile journey the family made to Barnard Castle on 12 April – Easter Day – where they got a few yards out of the car to admire the river and eat an Easter egg. They decided Mr Cummings’s sight was all right. The next day, they drove back to London. The day after that, Mr Cummings was back in 10 Downing Street. He had probably succeeded in minimising the risks arising from his family’s tricky situation.

    When the Prime Minister heard this account, he believed it. So should we, unless we have hard evidence to the contrary. It suggests that the Cummingses committed no serious infractions of the lockdown. (Does it really matter, for example, if the 30 miles to Barnard Castle is a bit longer than the police idea of a “reasonable distance”?). It does not suggest that they flouted any rules, claimed any privileges or endangered anyone else’s health. They made the best choice for their son in exceptionally difficult circumstances.

    It is unattractive – indeed shocking – that so many people over the weekend, before waiting to hear Mr Cummings’s side of the story, spoke in such harsh terms against him. Large areas of the media did everything they could to stir up the public against him by making out, without knowing the facts, that he had undermined the rules he had helped draw up.

    Some of Mr Cummings’s vocal critics were Conservative MPs, including pro-Brexit ones who could not have won the Leave referendum without him. All Tory MPs benefit from the 80-plus parliamentary majority gained with his decisive help in last December’s election. Yet several of them played the BBC’s game of prolonging the story. This was shabby and stupid.

    Then consider the bishops of the Church of England. Leeds said the people “had been lied to”; Durham: “trust has been broken”; Worcester: Boris’s “risible” defence of Mr Cummings was “an insult to all those who had made such sacrifices”, Bristol: we are “a nation where the Prime Minister has no respect for the people”. And more of the same from Willesden, Manchester, Ripon, Newcastle, Sheffield, Reading, Truro and Penrith – more bishops than you can fit on their bench in the House of Lords. All condemned Mr Cummings without clear evidence and without recalling the famous words of the Sermon on the Mount, “Judge not, that ye be not judged”.

    Mr Cummings can be rough. He has made some unnecessary enemies, especially in the media. In calmer times, he should work to repair these. But what we saw until he righted things with his firm but modest statement yesterday was a repeat of the demented character assassination which assailed Boris Johnson (and, by extension, Mr Cummings) over the prorogation of Parliament last summer – and on a charge that was largely trumped up. The attempt to destroy Mr Cummings is a mean-spirited attempt to unhorse the Prime Minister too. It has failed.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/05/26/attempt-destroy-dominic-cummings-has-utterly-failed

    1. I expect the media to behave like a pack of dogs. The Bishops however have no excuse. I wonder if the present crop have actually read the Bible.

        1. I am reminded of the Russian restaurants where they locked the doors so customers couldn’t get in. The staff got paid anyway.

      2. They view the Bible as a problem to be overcome. I was told for many years that our former vicar was overlooked for promotion because he failed his degree yet Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the Bishop of Dover, left school in Jamaica at age 14. Her doctorate is honorary. The standard is set pretty low if you fit the pc criteria.

        1. I bet if Christ were still around, he’d be clearing out this crowd of self-righteous clowns.

      3. They view the Bible as a problem to be overcome. I was told for many years that our former vicar was overlooked for promotion because he failed his degree yet Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the Bishop of Dover, left school in Jamaica at age 14. Her doctorate is honorary. The standard is set pretty low if you fit the pc criteria.

    2. I would accept everything he said except the trip to the castle – that was a blatant excuse for the family nipping out for the day – testing ones eyesight should not involve driving 60 miles with ones family and all the risks involved. Furthermore anyone in his position who goes to work dressed as a tramp is not fit to be in a position of power .

      1. Judge not lest thee be judged. I don’t care how he dresses. It would be nicer if he dressed a bit smarter, it maybe he feels uncomfortable in smart clothes, some people do. It’s what he does in his job that counts.

        1. I think he ‘s a high-functioning man with Asperger’s – he’s focused on what he does and cares not what people think of him. His child probably is the same.

          1. He reminds me of the mathematicians with whom I worked for 20 years, clothes were the last thing on their minds. As long as the body was covered that was all that (probably) concerned them, if that, from a sartorial point of view. Some were literally threadbare.

          2. Every time I watch Doc Martin I think Dominic Minghella must have watched me at some time! Martin Clunes has got my character spot on.

          5. It’s fun though you should watch from the 1st series onwards, not start with the later series.

          6. We don’t watch a lot of telly. Neither of us can stomach more than an hour plus the news’ so it doesn’t go on till 9pm, then we usually have something recorded to watch.

          7. I think it’s very amusing. I would NEVER watch TV news.
            EDIT: Well, not since Kenneth Kendall retired…

        2. His attitude is reflected in the way he dresses ie he doesn’t give a sh1t about what people think, he does what he wants

        3. I know when i put on a suit and tie it takes a while for my neck to start working again.

      2. You need to look at the facts and prove what you say. Can you.? or is it just your opinion. I give him the benifit.

        1. If he needed to check his eyesight he didn’t need 60 miles to a local attraction and then get out and sit in the sun before setting off back. You’re far too generous Johnny

          1. You have not read what he said have you. He said he needed to check he could undertake the long drive to london as well as his eyes.or did you miss that part out, Its what the fake media does all the time.

      3. Yo Alec

        remember the story of the cowboy who ridea into town, for a haircut

        Two Barbers

        One immaculate from head to toe

        The other Mr Cummings twin brother who could double as Worzel Gummage

        Which one do you go to

        The Scruff’s hair had been cut by Mr Smarmy

      1. 319661+ up ticks,
        Morning N,
        Precisely, an me thinking there was only ever one and seemingly there are thousands of the pretenders.

      2. And “Judge not, lest ye be judged”! OOOPs – should have read all the article!!

          2. 319661+ up ticks,
            N,
            I have found it to be so since & due to enry’s addiction to wedding cake,still I would say that wouldn’t I.

      4. “Let him that is without sin……….”

        Get a move on and collect some, time’s getting on don’tcha kno.

      5. Now is the time for the Roman Catholics to get down to some serious recruiting.

        The Church of England has taken its lead from Welby and has shown itself to be spiritually and practically inept. It isn’t just that the the Anglicans are not fit for purpose – they don’t even have a purpose to be fit for any more!

    4. His sight test drive was 60 miles. Hardly a little local drive to test his sight, and if his sight was as bad as he thought he had no business getting behind a steering wheel.
      Do you remember your driving test?
      If you couldn’t read the number plate of the parked car your examiner pointed out your test ended there with a fail.

      Sorry everything about this stinks to high heaven.

    5. The trip to his parents’ farmhouse, with their child in mind, was perfectly understandable. The trip to Barnard Castle at least an error of judgement. He should only need to admit that. I wonder if he is somewhere on the autism spectrum.

    1. I watched a recorded Bond film last night 1997 Tomorrow Never Dies. it was pretty apt judging by a lot of the goings on in the media including the news papers.
      Media baron Elliot Carver begins his plans to use an encoder obtained at the bazaar by his henchman, cyberterrorist Henry Gupta, to provoke war between China and the UK. Meaconing the GPS signal using the encoder, Gupta sends the frigate HMS Devonshire off-course into Chinese-held waters in the South China Sea, where Carver’s stealth ship, commanded by Mr. Stamper, ambushes it – sinking it in the process – and steals one of its missiles, while shooting down a Chinese J-7 fighter jet investigating the scene and killing off the Devonshire’s survivors with Chinese weaponry. The British Minister of Defence orders Roebuck to deploy the fleet to recover the frigate, and possibly retaliate, leaving M only 48 hours to investigate its sinking and avert a war.
      He stated Words are the new weapon. He even referred to a New World Order. And there was also a reference by M to another media baron falling over board from his yacht. It had everything except the virus. Eventually the dastardly Elliot Carver was caved up by his own weapon of destruction.

      2. I thought that M was Judi Dench in that film. “He stated… he even referred”?!?!?

      3. 319661+ up ticks,
        Morning Re,
        Agreed the similarity is apt, but may I add the reality currently
        Is that M is AKA One hung low.

        1. Now on my library borrowing list, as soon as they re-open, thanks for that.
          Martha’s Vineyard. A lovely and very interesting part of New England. Whilst staying in Falmouth, we did a tour on a yellow school bus in autumn (Fall) 1999. The ferry was “The Island Queen”, the very same boat they used in Jaws.

          Vance Packard
          Born: 22 May 1914 · Granville Summit, PA
          Died: 12 Dec 1996 · Martha’s Vineyard, MA
          Spouse: Virginia Matthews
          Education: Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism · Pennsylvania State University · Columbia University
          Parents: Philip J. Packard · Mabel Case Packard
          Nominations: National Book Award for Nonfiction (1960, 1958)

  25. Traffic on the Sussex coast appears back to normal. People driving with masks on if you can believe.

    1. I can believe.
      Some people have been scared witless by this, and I can’t say it’s not entirely unwarranted, but wearing a mask while you’re driving is just plain stupid.

      4. The lockdown plan was intended to scare people and make them compliant. I’ve complied (mostly) but I can’t say it’s scared me witless. If I had poor health I would feel differently.

        It really is time the only people who need shielding are the frail and ill.

        2. A friends daughter has not left her room since lockdown began. She exists in a puddle of anxiety. She won’t speak to anyone and won’t even go into the garden.

          Her mother has her on suicide watch.

          Thanks BBC.

          1. You need to provide your friend with plenty of data that they can pass on to their daughter, to try and rationalise with her. It’s going to be very hard, once she’s been conditioned to fear it so much.

            Having said that: my sister’s son has gone through a similar phase, and that was well before this virus came onto the scene. Our younger generation do seem to be a lot more emotionally fragile, or am I imagining it?

          2. Something has conditioned them that way. There seems to be far more “mental health issues” nowadays. We used to be able to just cope with everyday life, but for some reason they can’t.

          3. I feel all this mental health ‘stuff’ is being promoted to seep into the psyche of our young to weaken their minds and demoralise them, just like veganism is being promoted (to weaken the body) so they are not up for the fight or revolt when the time comes. They do not need everyone to take up these issues, just enough to create veins of weakness running through society. Diversity doing its bit, too, along with all the political correctness rubbish. Not to mention the moral weakness pervading along with no beliefs and values and a complete lack leadership in the church.

          4. It seems to be younger people who have bought into all this fear stuff too – the majority of us here thought right from the start that the lockdown was a panic measure and complete overreaction – yet the older ones are the ones most likely to die, and the Bames the most likely to be having raves etc.

          5. I read today that in the ’80s someone wrote that the Church (of England) couldn’t make up its mind on homosexuality, but it instinctively knew the Poll Tax was wrong.

          6. Too many young people have been overprotected (largely a result of having only 1 or 2 children per couple – so too precious to risk losing) and a a result never learn about risk. One example – we live on a relatively busy main road: my son learnt to cross it by himself from the age of six; his first girfriend who lived on the other side of the road wasn’t allowed to cross it alone till she was 15. He certainly hasn’t been cowed by Covid.

          7. I must have been a bad mother – I remember my elder son took his father’s car keys and went off (in his pedal car) up the road and away out of sight. He was three. They both used to play outside unservised, as I did. The elder one is a Brexiteer, the younger one a Remainer.
            I used to walk to school along a busy main road, on my own, from the age of five or six. The older girl, who used to walk with me when I started, soon got tired of being nursemaid.

          8. Dreadful. Didn’t even have anything like this in the wars, I understand, having missed both.

          9. We generally watch most of the news at 10pm. They excelled themselves last night with Clive Myrie visiting a small Muslim morgue in a railway arch in Tower Hamlets. They’d probably have a job to find anyone there now who was English. My gt grandparents lived there.

          11. The Archers has changed totally since it was first broadcast. “How could that have happened?”, asks Walter Gabriel; “I wonder, I wonder?” (Dum dee dum dee dum dee dum. Dum dee dum de dooh-dah… etc.)

            :-))

          12. Another fait accompli by the BBC
            I rarely watch Pointless but, last night two pleasant black ladies had got to the last hurdle.
            They were one nil down in the head to head against an equally pleasant white couple.
            The next question was about the US tennis player Serina Williams. They chose the answer that most people didn’t (or did they) know.
            Her daughters name.
            Next question anagrams of different types of chillies. Them to go first.
            Call me and old septic but……..
            I didn’t watch any more.

          13. That’s why I don’t watch the tv news, apart from Tucker Carlson who is on Fox news in the U.S..
            He’s one of the few publicly questioning the current orthodoxy on a whole range of subjects.

          14. Ah – but he’s “right wing”.
            My OH doesn’t give a stuff for politics, so we watch the Beeb news – sometimes I find it’s quite funny, and as for bias……… they go out of their way to show you suffering muslims, Rohingya, Uighurs, and all the rest, but never the other side of the coin. There’s been less about climate change lately, but that’s beginning again.

          15. I don’t watch news on TV at all. I pretty much only stream since GoT ended. The internet is the best source of news imho. You can check multiple sources for stories you are interested in very quickly and don’t have to have one set of bias rammed down your throat for 30 minutes.

          17. You can’t get fibre or cable? If your download speed is 4M that’s good enough, although 10M is recommended. I get 14M on old ADSL so I haven’t bothered upgrading to faster service as that is ample to stream on 3 devices at once.

        3. Maybe it’s just the people who phone in to LBC, who worry about going back to work, or for everything to reopen beau the virus is in the air….or something.

          Which is not to say it’s not a serious virus for some people. I’ve already mentioned here that an ex-NHS colleague and friend died last week from the virus, caught in hospital during a previous recent admission for severe bronchitis.
          It’s serious, but not for the vast majority, especially those who are otherwise fit, well, and under working age.

    2. That was one of the laws our daughter had to abide by in Dubai or face a hefty fine. No longer necessary.

  26. Newsnight: ‘Furious’ Emily Maitlis fails to present Wednesday’s show after Dominic Cummings reprimand
    BBC earlier released a statement saying that the programme had fallen short of required standards

    Emily Maitlis failed to appear on Newsnight after the BBC said her monologue about Dominic Cummings breached impartiality guidelines.
    Ms Maitlis caused a politic storm when she opened Tuesday night’s BBC Two programme with the words: “Dominic Cummings broke the rules. The country can see that and it’s shocked the Government cannot.”

    She criticised Boris Johnson’s “blind loyalty” to his special adviser and said the public mood is one of “fury, contempt and anguish”.

    Following a day of furious criticism, the BBC released a statement saying that the BBC Two programme had fallen short of required standards.
    Although the BBC did not go as far as an apology, Maitlis was said to be furious that she and her colleagues had been publicly reprimanded and she did not appear as planned on Wednesday’s programme. The presenter Katie Razzall took her place.

    Good God, I didn’t think ‘impartiality’ was in the Beeb dictionary but it’s good to see the bumptious Maitlis being knocked down a peg or two.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/27/emily-maitlis-row-bbc-does-not-even-pretend-impartial-says-newsnight/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    1. The BTL comments are all definitely cr@pping on Maitlis & the Beeb.
      Morning, Tom.

      1. Stand by for them to be stopped, Paul. Dog don’t eat dog in yer meeja.

        1. But do they eat crow?
          Morning, Bill. Feel different for 25 years of marriage?
          In my case, after 39 (almost) years married, I feel…. older.
          :-))

          1. Good morning, Paul.

            To use a cricketing analogy, I have taken a fresh guard and will now play myself in for the next 25 years.

            Ackshally, I have set myself a new target of a Ruby Wedding.

          2. Excellent! Party at yours, then? Lockdown should be just about over…

          3. Just the two of us. Flowers and cards. Champagne, fish pie and asparagus.

    2. Morning, NtN.

      The country can see that and it’s shocked the Government cannot.

      A case of Maitlis telling her (dwindling?) audience what their opinion should be rather than being in a position to quote facts. If an official Propaganda Ministry existed she would be a leading light.

    3. ‘Morning, Nanners.

      Just been browsing Biased BBC and came across this post. Says it all for me:

      “Day four and the BBC pile-on continues against Cummings.
      They report “growing calls” for his resignation, “continued questions”, Tory “attempts” to move on etc etc.
      This is typical of the way the BBC drives its narrative. There is a total lack of acknowledgement that this political sideshow is being batted to the top of the news agenda by the BBC itself.
      They could let it go, they could choose other lead items, but they won’t. They continue to create their own little storm, like a noisy kind throwing a tantrum in the corner.
      Instead of four days of wall to wall coverage about a family’s drive to the country, they could have been talking about the dramatic drop in Covid cases and deaths across the country (a success story, perhaps, so therefore not newsworthy?) or the latest on vaccines and treatments (which might give viewers and listeners a little hope, but not doom-laden enough, so also not so newsworthy?) or investigate the ill preparedness of the NHS (sacrosanct and diverting blame from the evil Tories, so not newsworthy?), or delving into the scandal of why all these pandemics stem from China (far too racist, so not newsworthy?).
      The BBC and the twitter lynch mob truly believe that the country is with them but, like during Brexit and the General Election, they haven’t a clue that the vast, silent majority really don’t give a toss about Cummings, and that most people are pretty fair minded and are genuinely far more interested in other things.”

      Pretty well spot on, I would say.

      1. A couple of recent BTL Comments:-

        catherine thompson
        28 May 2020 8:03AM
        Maitlis was hired for her quirky good looks and dress sense. Now the looks have gone, can’t we have a presenter who is a little more intelligent?

        Flag5Like
        Reply

        Robert Spowart
        28 May 2020 8:08AM
        @catherine thompson No idea what she looked like in her early days, or even how old she is now, but for as long as she’s been on my radar I’ve found her appearance to be that of a rather nasty spoilt brat far too used to getting her own way. The term bitter and twisted is to put it mildly.Edit ()

      2. BBC are no longer happy to report news, nor any longer make the news, they want to BE the news. Look at me! Look at me!
        Arrisholes. Even SWMBO won’t watch them any more.

      3. That encapsulates all the reasons I no longer watch the Bbc. It’s the only way I can remain even half-way sane!

  27. SIR – An illuminating example of risk management in earlier times is the practice favoured by some Battle of Britain pilots of attacking enemy aircraft head-on.

    With a closing speed around 300 yards per second, and the effective range of the guns also 300 yards, they would aim to attack from 600 yards, giving themselves _(notionally) one second to fire and one second to evade collision. TThis level of risk they accepted this level of risk in order to defend the British people. Civilians, meanwhile, decided for themselves whether or not to eat in restaurants or attend theatre performances in London.

    Three generations later, the population is apparently content for the Government, month after month, to dictate what people can do, where they can go or whom they may meet – instead, regardless of the effects on businesses and livelihoods, reserving its fury for Mr Cummings, because it is thought that he broke the rules. Can anyone deny the country has changed?

    Dr David Cooke

    Cobham, Surrey

      2. Akshally, Bill, I believe he is a medical doctor, not a trichologist.

    2. The past is another country; they do things differently there – unfortunately.

  28. SIR – During this Covid-19 crisis general practitioners have rightly reduced their face-to-face consultations, with 90 per cent now conducted by phone and video. However, certain conditions and examinations need direct contact with a doctor.

    I am, for instance, concerned about elderly patients, who aren’t always confident with technology and may have other communication problems. Depressed patients may not have the motivation to overcome any barriers or hurdles to consultations, and may not seek timely help. Suicidal patients are a particular worry, as having to request a callback triage video or phone call may be off-putting.

    It is to be hoped that GPs will be able to return to more traditional consultations as soon as possible.

    Dr Philip Cox

    Peak Forest, Derbyshire

    1. My daughter, working for the NHS who deals with psychological disorders, by phone only these last 2 months, has recently had a suicide occur. I know no details except that my daughter is very upset.

      1. sorry to hear that molamola. I think the lockdown has exacerbated all sorts of frustrations. I hope your daughter gets the support she deserves..

      2. It is very upsetting when that happens. Please send her my good wishes. I know what it’s like to lose someone to suicide. It’s the guilt, thinking you should have been able to do something, that is crushing.

    2. Yo Epi

      Lady filing nails and reading ‘Hello magazine, answeres ‘phone

      “Doctor Crippens surgery, how may we help you”

      Caller “Well, I have a medical problem”

      Nail filer:

      “Press #1 for heart problems
      Press #2 for stomach pains
      Press #3 for STDs
      Press #4 for serious bleeding
      Press #5 for going into Labour (this is not for changing Postal Vote, Mr Rashid controls that

      You will now be redirected to our associate in India”

      Just think how much money and the number of immigrants this will save

      Asian doctors do not have to catch ‘little ferry’ from France
      Medical Practices can cut down on number of Staff
      Medical Center carparks can be sold for housing

  29. Hogweed can grow up to 20ft tall and cause agonising burns and even blindness — and now they’re on the march across Britain. 28 May 2020.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f32b74a93c5dd58da36cb65d18701354c51159970469885651039015bba164f0.jpg

    According to the Government’s Non-Native Species Secretariat, giant hogweed can grow up to 20ft tall, with dinner-table sized leaves.

    Like something out of John Wyndham’s The Day Of The Triffids, it can blind people and inflict other life-changing injuries.

    And now the plants are on the march, figuratively speaking.

    Originally found in southern Russia and nearby Georgia, they were introduced to the UK as an ornamental plant in the 19th century but soon ‘escaped’ into the wild.

    Nasty looking injuries!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8363261/Hogweed-grow-20ft-tall-cause-burns-blindness-theyre-marching-Britain.html

    3. Parsnips which have gone to seed will do the same thing. The Head Gardener here had some very nasty burns on her arm from it. It took a long time to heel (months) and I’m sure the GP thought I’d been beating her up!

      Parsnips FFS!

      1. Umbellifers – the carrot family, which includes hemlock as well as edibles, herbs and spices.

    5. It used to line the Autobahns leading into Düsseldorf from the West 20 years ago. May be still there. I’ve never seen it grow anything like 20′ tall though, in Europe, although it may reach that height in its native Russia.

  30. Good morning from Saxon Queen with Longbòw and Axe ( both in handbag )

    Yes in deed the public keeps calm and uses common sense whilst those in power don’t.
    It’s important to keep one’s head when those power lose theirs and they have truly lost
    the plot.

    1. 319661+ up ticks,
      Morning A,
      May one ask why is common sense not given leave to enter the polling booth ?
      Voting in the same type
      politico’s / parties time & time again is not the correct use of common sense.

      1. Good morning Mr Viking
        For lunch it’ll be cheeses and my favourite German smoked
        Black Forest ham with rye bread .
        Dinner will be thin spaghetti with a tomato and garlic
        based sauce with shrimps . Are you having anything
        nice today.

        1. I usually skip lunch. Tonight it will be the 2nd 1/2 of the Tagliatelle Bolognese.

          1. 319661+ up ticks,
            Afternoon Ptv,
            The herd continue the same voting pattern then it is inevitable
            that coco will be inclusive.

    3. 319661+ up ticks,
      A,
      Keep in mind within the said head the
      fact that supporting / voting for parties
      that portray strongly submissive, pcism & appeasement traits, is completely the wrong course to steer in head keeping.
      Please view this post as a health & safety warning.

  32. Dominic Cummings did breach Coronavirus guidelines, Durham Police say
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/28/dominic-cummings-did-breach-coronavirus-guidelines-durham-police/

    Dominic Cummings did break lockdown rules when he made a 50 mile journey to Barnard Castle, an investigation by Durham Police has concluded.

    The Prime Minister’s most senior aide claimed he made the trip on Easter Sunday, with his wife and four-year-old son, to check he was fit to drive after suffering coronavirus related eyesight problems.

    Mr Cummings insisted he had acted “lawfully and reasonably” at all times when he made the 260 mile journey from London to Durham to self isolate at his parents’ farm at the end of March.

    But an investigation by Durham Police has concluded he did commit a “minor breach” of the guidelines when he drove to Barnard Castle on April 12.

    However the force, which according to the most recent data, has issued 137 fines for lockdown breaches, said it would not be any further action against Mr Cummings.

  33. We received this this morning by email as we’d used MediClinic when visiting our daughter in Dubai. Perhaps we can get a free holiday from them.

    Dear Patient,

    We hope that you and your families are staying safe and well during the current times and we thank you for your continued trust in Mediclinic for your healthcare requirements.

    We are writing to you today to ask for your help.

    The Covid-19 pandemic has placed increased strain on the UAE’s blood resources, and stocks have reached critically low levels. In order to try to boost supplies, Mediclinic has arranged a number of blood donation drives across the country and we invite you to come and give blood. All donations are conducted in a completely safe environment, with stringent infection control measures in force.
    Please see below for a full list of locations and times:

    DUBAI
    Mediclinic Welcare Hospital – June 3rd
    Mediclinic City Hospital – June 7th
    Mediclinic Parkview Hospital – June 10th
    Mediclinic Dubai Mall – June 7th
    Timings: 9am – 2pm

    ABU DHABI
    Mediclinic Airport Road Hospital – June 3rd
    Mediclinic Al Noor Hospital – May 31st
    Timings: 9am – 2pm

    AL AIN
    Mediclinic Al Ain Hospital – May 30th
    Mediclinic Al Jowhara Hospital – June 1st

    Timings: 9am – 2pm

    Your participation could literally mean the difference between life and death for someone in need of a transfusion. For further information and details on donation eligibility, please visit this link
    Thank you in advance.

    Mediclinic Middle East

    1. “How mucha you pay?”

      As they used to say when I lived in the Muddle (sic) East.

          1. Always thought the proper expression should be ‘Cheap at twice the price. What do you think?

          3. ‘Cheap at twice the price’ is the more logical but once the peasants got hold of it, it became stuck at 1/2.

          5. Sounds as though it’s referring to someone pretending to be above their social station. I don’t know.

  35. Breaking news………………
    A man who taught his Labrador to play the trumpet was today seen busking on the underground…………….
    He went from Barking to Tooting in under an hour.

  36. Durham Police have announced that Cummings won’t be investigated for his 30 mile Barnard’s Castle trip, and that his drive from London to Durham was legal. That didn’t stop the Bbc from moaning about him, without once mentioning other notables like Stephen Kinnock from driving even further to visit his parents, or Douglas Ross driving 350 miles to deliver personally a Bill in the Commons because his broadband wasn’t up to snuff.

    3. DC did say the trip was also to establish that he could take on a long drive.

  37. https://order-order.com/2020/05/28/nissan-close-barcelona-factory-centre-production-at-sunderland/

    “Nissan Close Barcelona Factory, Centre Production at Sunderland”

    ”

    Nissan’s restructuring plan cements its
    Sunderland plant at the heart of the Japanese manufacturing giant’s
    European strategy, despite Brexit. Today it has been revealed that the
    manufacturer’s second largest plant, Barcelona, is bing shut down losing
    all 3,000 jobs at the Spanish site. Meanwhile the consolidation means
    that 6,000 jobs are being protected in the North East of England. Despite Brexit.
    It had previously been reported
    that production of two Renault models is moving out of Spain and to
    Nissan’s Sunderland plant in order to streamline production in what has
    been a rocky year for the automotive industry globally. This isn’t what the experts said would happen post-Brexit…
    “”

    2. “Despite Brexit” – of course. Because of Brexit would be nearer the mark.

  38. Last night around 23.00 I started a new K. Wilkinson thriller (in English). It was so gripping that I read 120 pages straight off. So going back to bed for some more Zzzzzz.

    2. Its great when abook grabs you. the first book to do it for me was My Early Life By Sir Winston Churchill and it was my O level book for English Lit.( I still have it)

    4. Morning Peddy, in March I bought over 50 Dennis Wheatley hard back books – I’m half way through reading them at 1 hour per night just before going to sleep – a fantastic buy at £30 as they were all unread

      1. The Newcastle song Sally Wheatley had these parody words put to it some years ago:-

        Oh I’m most depressed and sad
        For wor lass has turned out bad
        She used to dress herself in pinks and whites so sweetly
        One neet I turned my back
        And she dressed herself in black
        And I’m sure that she’s been reading Dennis Wheatley

        Oh dear me, headless chickens for tea
        The candles white for black they changed so quickly
        There’s a coffin in the shed
        There’s a room all painted red
        Since wor lass she started reading Dennis Wheatley.

        Went out one Friday night
        Got home, why what a fright
        There was 13 in the room all acting sheeply
        Not a sign of Tupperware
        Or Ann Summers Underwear
        Just a great big pile of books by Dennis Wheatley.

        Now I’m not one to shout
        On a girls night they went out
        I thought to Cullercoats or maybe Whitley
        The police they thought it rude
        Cos they catched them in the nude
        Dancing round a photograph of Dennis Wheatley.

        Now I’ve got to call a halt
        Cos it’s all Dennis’s fault
        I’ll put a stop to this black magic gently
        Cos I’ve bought myself a pond
        And of that I’ve got quite fond
        And I’ve bought a book called Jaws by Peter Benchly.

        Oh dear me, the shark’s had his tea
        The one I bought from fishkeepers weekly
        It’s a 30 foot great white and it’s taken to the wife
        And I’ve cured wor lass of reading Dennis Wheatley.

        https://youtu.be/HM_cIGEtBio

      2. Great books the only one I had a problem with was the Haunting of Toby Jugg.?

        1. What was your problem with it, Johnny – I recall enjoying it but it is many years since I last read it.

        3. I quite liked that. It’s been made into a film, I understand (although I haven’t seen it).

      3. I did enjoy reading Wheatley in my youth – I’d love to reread them.

        1. I’ve still got my Denis Wheatleys. One of a very small number of fiction books.

      4. Sounds like a real bargain, Spikey.

        I usually read a chapter or two each night, whether English or German, but last night the book just carried me away.

  39. Social distancing is breaking down rapidly in this city where is is not enforced by supermarkets and some other outlets. Groups of teenagers walking together are a commonplace. Good.

    1. I’ve noticed that, too. Teenagers don’t like being told to do at the best of times. It’s in their nature to be rebellious. Always was.

  40. The government rather reminds me of Kanute. His advisors believed he could hold back the tide, he knew he couldn’t.

    Here our government believes not only that it can, but that to appear useful it should.

    The simple reality is that the less the state does, the more useful it is and the better off we all are.

    1. Guess which developed country has the longest period without an elected government, at 589 days.

        1. Does the UK really have a government now that the speaker has ruled that voting in the HoC could cost lives?

    2. Remember the old film hack’s famous and apt quotation:

      “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

    2. Just like the beach invasion in Dorset and the Rave at Peterborough.
      But as we have often seen there will be no attempted to stop this because it will be waycism and it’s always ‘whities’ fault.

      1. I did hear a BBC program this morning that was talking about boat crossings.
        After I woke up, I realised that they were talking about crossings from Libya to Malta. Whitey was still wrong because the Maltese Navy are pushing the rafts back to Libya AND as a double blame point the NGO boats are not allowed out to collect their cargo.

  43. 319661+ up ticks,
    It surprises me greatly that a link has NOT been rhetorically forged between the coronavirus and donning the burka I am sure this has not been overlooked in the governance treachery scheming departments and is a
    next proposed step to take us out of lock-down but nearer the mosque.
    Believe me there are many indigenous who
    would oblige.

      1. 319661+ up ticks,
        N,
        Yet another mask, one that has surely slipped & revealed the true colours of these governance parties they are on par with a set of babushka nesting dolls, take one away you have the same likeness on show .
        ALL actively in union as in an anti UK coalition.
        Their combined treacherous input since the 24/6/2016 cannot be denied.

      2. 319661+ up ticks,
        N,
        I know, I have read the book and I heed the warnings, the Batten
        book of common sense, not the instruction manual resting between the dispatch boxes.

  44. Incidentally,on my garden centre trip, while they didn’t have nice small dark leaved tuberous begonias like they usually stock, the original style bedding busy lizzies, impatiens walleriana, have reappeared. Having been a bedding staple, they vanished completely a few years ago since they had become infected with some virus disease which caused mass premature death, a popular topic for homo sapiens at present. I assume a new resistant seed strain has been developed.

  45. Disqus won’t display Twitter links at the moment, so you’ll have to take it from me that this is out there.

    Adonis:
    Why is it ok for Andrew Neil to do monologues giving his view of the world, as a BBC presenter, but it be a subject of reprimand for Emily Maitlis to do an intro to her interviews which substantiate her remarks?

    Might it just be because the Tories like him and don’t like her?

    I must admit that it occurred to me at the time that there wasn’t that much difference between Maitlis’s performance and one of Neil’s, though I suppose an analysis of his subjects and targets might show otherwise. He gave us 3m 10s on Johnson’s refusal to be interviewed at the time of the GE but only 1:47 on the Paris attacks in 2015.

    Annoyingly, I’ve lost the link to a Maitlis tweet that had plenty of supporters in the establishment. Surprise, surprise: it included Adonis, Gina Miller and Lammy. The Brexit war continues…

    1. I wonder what they would write, in the unlikely event BJ said :

      “I’ve done two things, I’ve terminated all Brexit withdrawal negotiations and we leave at midnight on WTO and will not pay a penny to the EU, so, as demanded, I’ve sacked Cummings because he’s no longer needed.”

  46. The PM was asked by an MP at his interrogation yesterday by Remainers if something could be done to help a Pakistani woman who has to wait 10 years before receiving any UK benefits and is in dire straits. She has a husband and children. The PM did not have an answer, understandably, but said he would find out if he was given details. According to BBC News this morning there are thousands of families in this situation.
    As she must have accommodation somewhere and presumably her children are being educated she must be getting support from somewhere. I suspect the woman was not telling her MP the full story. Does anyone on this site know, if true, why there is a 10 year delay before getting benefits for some immigrant families .

    1. The husband should be providing for his wife and children.
      Does she have the right to be here in the first place?

    3. The husband should be providing for his wife and children.
      Does she have the right to be here in the first place?

      1. She was probably one of those ‘cousins’ brought in on marriage. As if there weren’t enough to choose from already here.

      2. It’s not a husband’s job to be a provider now.

        That’s so seventies!

        With the rise of the feminazi women are now men’s equal and they can provide for themselves. Besides most households need two salaries, especially if they have kids.

    4. ‘Morning, Clydesider, “…10 year delay before getting benefits for some ALL immigrants families .

      Modified it a bit.

    5. They may have their passports stamped “No recourse to public funds”. I can’t remember the criteria. But presumably this woman’s husband is keeping her.

  47. Close contact is defined as within two metres for more than 15 minutes.

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11726771/coronavirus-test-and-trace-system-shambles/?utm_medium=browser_notifications&utm_source=pushly

    Surely it would be easier to invent a personal promixity detector that sounded an alarm when you’d been gassing with anybody that close for over fifteen minutes. It could even sum up your possible viral load like a radiation exposure monitor.

    The Chinese could turn them out very cheap by the millions.

    (Inhibitor override in same household of course so as not to disturb neighbours during sex – on the other hand could be a big turn on if the alarm was a fake orgasm!)

    1. Yo T_B

      Is that the lot that left, then came back and are just leaving again,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

    2. Good day, Maggiebelle.

      I have spent many happy days sailing along the coast from Studland past the Old Harry Rocks to Anvil Point, Lulworth Cove, St Ablans Head and Weymouth. It is a beautiful piece of coast line but looking at the picture of Durdle Door I was far happier out at sea on my own.

      I used to enjoy walking when my boys were little but I cannot understand ramblers at all. For me a good walk in company and conversation with my sons in beautiful countryside and away from hordes of people was a delight. Donning sensible rambling shoes and special anoraks for rambling and joining a group of assertive, ramblers is not my idea of fun at all.

      ‘I am never alone with my solitude’ as Georges Moustaki sings:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9-OzSzCDWo

      1. Wonderful.

        I don’t like crowds of people . Yesterday evening we took the spaniels for a walk near Hartland Moor , Arne , we could see Poole harbour in the distance , and we were all alone .. such bliss and luxury .. We heard a cuckoo calling , and another one from another direction . We saw buzzards , and a handsome red fox skulked off when he/she saw my dogs . I think the fox had just killed a rabbit , because my dogs found a fresh kill , and we had to extract the rabbit quite swiftly from the jaws of my older spaniel.

        We were far to early for nightjars, but we saw lots of stonechats and heard the sky larks .. The countryside was settling down after such a hot day. We are very mindful about how dry the heath is , tinder dry , and hope and pray that idiots do not have BBQs despite the warnings by the council .

        A 17 year old lad has gone missing off Portland , he was snorkling .. the search parties were busy all night last night and this morning . I fear the worst .

        Dorset has been fairly lucky so far re this terrible virus. I hope the tourists don’t bring a second wave with them .

  49. https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/may/21/australian-researchers-see-virus-design-manipulati/
    Australian researchers see virus design manipulation
    forthcoming Australian scientific study concludes that the coronavirus causing the global pandemic contains unique properties suggesting it was manipulated in a Chinese laboratory and was not the result of a natural occurrence.

    Five scientists who conducted the study discovered an unusual ability of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as the pathogen behind COVID-19 is called, to easily infect humans.

    The scientists said there is no sign so far that the virus can be found in other animals, including bats or the exotic wildlife sold for fresh meat at a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus was first identified and where China maintains a major laboratory studying such viruses.

    The preliminary report of the study, which is now being peer-reviewed, is based on computer modeling of the virus’ ability to infect various animals, including humans. It was published May 13 on the Cornell University website arXiv.org, which is used for discussion of pre-publication papers.

    Nikolai Petrovsky, the lead researcher, said his team suspects human manipulation in Wuhan because of the unmatched ability of the virus’ protruding spike to infect human cells.

    Petrovsky was also on Sky News Australia a couple of days ago. He was not definitive in his answers, but did say that the CV19 attaches to human cells far better than any animal cells that they’ve tested so far. It points towards it not coming from an animal-to-human transmission.
    He also said that scientists refuted the “made in a lab” scenario because it would have implications for their virology lab work,which they wouldn’t want, i.e. far greater restrictions.

    1. Five scientists who conducted the study (and are due to visit Doctor david Kelly in the very near future) discovered an unusual ability of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as the pathogen behind COVID-19 is called, to easily infect humans.

      <

    3. We’ve evolved from single-celled organisms into fully sentient bipeds and people wonder about viruses evolving when their rate of change is far faster than ours.

    4. With that type of logic one might conclude that the symmetry exhibited by snowflakes must be a result of human intervention.

      1. An investigation into why snowflakes have such an affinity for snowballs might well result in the cold shoulder from Jack Frost.😨

    1. I still need Adonis Blue. I’ve seen countless Commons, Hollys (my favourite) and the odd Silver-Studded but never an Adonis, a Small or a Chalkhill.

  51. Hello playmates! Here’s a little jolly from Ehcalmdown. I’m not sure about the formatting, so any help as to how to get it looking like RIks would be much appreciated!:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a3568dfaceadb1c82d1270fff93643ec40cee9ae8d726abba7aed8f4a2db7b35.jpg
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    1. United Nations New World Order Project – is this a spoof? “Happytalism” – seriously?

        1. Evening, Rik, the most unrealistic set of ‘goals’ I’ve ever seen.

          The only real goal to try and achieve, is a drastic reduction in the human population of the entire globe and this will only be achieved by releasing the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

          Wuflu made a start but it was a paltry effort as was HIV/Aids.

          With resources getting short, I foretell that the next war (a world-war) will be about land for crops and water for irrigation. It will not be pretty.

      2. I wouldn’t wish to live in a world where everybody is happy, we need some gloom and despondency against which to measure our happiness.

        Thing is, these days, there’s just not enough misery to go round.
        :¬(

        1. I’m always happy, I lurve watching the misery of Lefties as their beliefs are unravelled time and again.

    1. Georgie Soreass bullied & lied
      Pissed the free
      and made Polly cry
      when the EU fell in disarray
      Georgie S was swept away

          2. Dolly looks patheticly forlorn after i have fed her. She stares into her bowl and then looks up at me. If i don’t react she starts shuffling her bowl all round the kitchen

      2. When I think of Adonis, to be blunt
        It occurs to me he is a “front”
        He acts for his boss
        The notorious Soros
        And it’s just a nefarious stunt.

    2. There once was a Bojo whose Mojo
      Fell multiple points ‘cos of Domo
      He dithered and twitched
      Saying life has been bitched
      If only young Domo was homo

    3. There once was a Bojo whose Mojo
      Fell multiple points ‘cos of Domo
      He dithered and twitched
      Saying life has been bitched
      If only young Domo was homo

    2. Bit similar to the terrible riots and plunderings a few years ago ..in the London area !

      It is like treading on eggshells isn’t it

    3. “Do you know, I’m so angry about this but I don’t know how to protest.”

      “I do, let’s go out and burn down all the places that supply our food. That’ll show ’em!”

      1. It’s Lord of the Flies x 10 Billion. The only thing which might have prevented the rioting may have been the arrest of the Police Officer and detained in custody?

      1. That’s cause yer Scots are totally rational with utterly devoted loyalty to the politicians they elect….

      2. I’m surprised that Gordon Brown didn’t take the credit for “Saving Kirkcaldy from riots”.

  56. Scots can host barbecues for eight people – but guests must bring food and cannot use inside toilet
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/05/28/scots-can-host-barbecues-eight-people-guests-must-bring-food/

    Scots will be allowed to host barbecues for up to eight people from tomorrow but their guests will have to bring their own food and plates and will be barred from using the toilet.

    Nicola Sturgeon announced that lockdown restrictions will be eased from Friday to allow families to meet one other household at a time, subject to a maximum of eight people.

    She confirmed Scots could hold barbecues and picnics this weekend but said guests from the other household should bring their own food, cutlery, plates and cups.

    In addition, she said guests should not enter the house, effectively limiting the people who could be invited to close neighbours who could return to their own home to use the toilet.

    I guess our neighbours over the border will just have to cross their legs – or ‘water’ the garden.

    4. “Scots will be allowed to host barbecues for up to eight people from tomorrow but their guests will have to bring their own food and plates and will be barred from using the toilet.”
      I thought that was usual up there.

      1. The English can use the loo but have to wash hands and wipe down the surfaces in the toilet.

        1. Let’s hope the hand washing comes after they’ve wiped down those surfaces.

      2. Och, man! There’s nae cludgies in the Heelands, laddie.

        Whit dae ye think the Caledonian forest is for?

    5. Well now, if our guests at a garden party are not allowed to use the lavatory, it makes no matter. I’ve a perfectly good compost heap…

      1. And, being a canny Scot, you’ll slip some diuretic into the punch no doubt.

        };-O

      2. The people from whom I bought this house (and who had had it built) caused a stir in the village by BOTH of them peeing on the compost heap; though not at the same time.

    1. One of his forebears may have invented the lamp, but the current bearer of the name is particularly dim…..

    2. Stay hampered by a sclerotic, rule-infested, anti-business institution for 24 months? That would really finish us off. As if things aren’t going to be tricky enough.

    4. Doesn’t he mean delaying Brexit by 6 years, 2 yrs was 2 yrs ago. And it strikes me as a complete non sequitur.

  58. 319661+ up ticks,
    Now there’s a thing, seemingly a group is looking for funds to float a wicker man basket co. willing to deliver
    to any fete or private do, the prototype will accommodate two.
    Celebrate the day of reckoning with your
    local MP / councilors.

  59. Just in from fighting the greenhouse blind that had, somehow, reversed itself. The temp reached 50ºC in there this arvo.

    In real need of a medicinal glass.

    Will see you tomorrow. Have a jolly evening writing your letters of complaint to the local perlice farce.

  60. Executive order coming up to regulate Twitter and all social media in the US.

  61. Afternoon all.

    This morning I listened to BBC R 4 at 11.30 for ” Knight Fights Giant Snail ” — The images in medieval margins range from the playful to the bizarre. With Dr Alixe Bovey. Interesting stuff … or so I thought.

    The first guest was Martin Rowson, who described some images including references to Iain Duncan Smith and Matt Hancock.

    Rowson is a British editorial cartoonist and writer. His genre is political satire and his style is scathing and graphic. He characterises his work as “visual journalism”.[1] His cartoons appear frequently in The Guardian and the Daily Mirror. He also contributes freelance cartoons to other publications, such as Tribune, Index on Censorship and the Morning Star. In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, Rowson signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that “Labour’s election manifesto under Jeremy
    Corbyn’s leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few.”[10

    And so yet another left-winger given unadulterated air-time by the al–beeb.

    THe BBC is a national disgrace.

  62. It turns out that the Minnesota policeman, Derek Chauvin – who has been sacked after a video was released showing him kneeling on a black suspect’s neck, causing the death of arrested man – while clearly a thug, may not be quite the white racist that he is portrayed as in the popular press. He is married to a Hmong woman, a native of a tribe that lives in the Highlands of Vietnam/Laos, scarcely the ideal spouse for a white racist, one might think.

    Perhaps Mr. Chauvin just doesn’t like niggers.

    1. He was grinding his knee back and forth. Regardless of anything else that was excessive and unnecessary. He already had him hogtied.

      1. 319661+ up ticks,
        N,
        I was going to say it was with thoughts of getting her promoted
        but then again maybe not a good thing in today’s troublesome
        climate it is the top that will get the nasty chop.

        1. I think it’s mostly the lower downs that get the chop, the top level usually have enough contacts to walk into another sinecure.

          1. 319661+ up ticks,
            Afternoon V,
            The initial post did say pay off the lower ranks adequately.
            The hierarchy must be named / shamed. there has got to be a reckoning regarding ALL of the controlling hierarchy, things surely must change to survive.

      2. And that BBC Studios is already a commercial entity so would survive, albeit in a reduced form. I asked my boss one day what he thought would happen if the licence fee disappeared and he agreed that Studios could continue but would be a much smaller operation. Hertslass tells me that my pension shouldn’t be affected.

        1. Is the BBC not already set up into a myriad of operating entities? All ready to go private and commercial like Top Gear?

  64. Evening, all. It’s been a scorcher here – far too hot to do anything. In my local rag, county councillors are supposed to have visited local towns to put in place measures to enable shops to open. One of the proposals is one-way systems for the High Streets. In at least two of the towns mentioned, these streets are ALREADY one way and have been so for a long time! There is NOTHING government – local or national – cannot make worse by interfering.

      1. Any time you’re Covid way,
        Any evening, any day,
        You’ll find us all
        Doing the Covid Walk.

        Every little Covid gal,
        With her little Covid pal,
        You’ll find them all
        Doing the Covid Walk.

        Everything’s free and easy,
        Do as you darn well pleasy,
        Why don’t you make your way there
        Go there, stay there.

        Once you get down Covid way
        Every evening, every day,
        You’ll find yourself
        Doing the Covid Walk.oi!

      2. It didn’t read like that. There was talk of ‘more signage’ (what! yet more ‘street furniture’?) and more cycle lanes as well as introducing a one-way system for High Streets. It seemed to be wheeled traffic, rather than pedestrian traffic, that was being targeted.

    2. Pretty pointless – no one seems to be able to follow the arrows in the supermarkets, so doubt anyone will manage it on a larger scale.

    2. Is she stealing Cathy Newman’s lines now? I don’t know… (sigh)

  66. Peston and Kuensberg got the cold shoulder from Boris at the 5pm COVID-19 update this afternoon. The cameraman cut to LK after Boris cut her off and I don’t know whether she was blowing Boris a kiss or scowling at him.
    As I understood the protocol now for being quarantined if you are traced as a contact you have to be less than 2 metres away from the suspect and to have been there for 15 minutes or more. Can’t see them getting anyone in the net having disclosed that information.

    1. It is obvious that Boris has instructed his ministers and advisers not to rise to the bait or react aggressively to severe provocation from the MSM and the BBC with its usual suspects.

      I loved the way that Boris dealt with Kuennsberg and Peston, he just switched them off. Same with the Irishman at the end.

      Let us hope that Boris will eventually scrap the compulsory licence fee and look at de-funding the BBC along with sequestration of its assets. It has been neither impartial nor fit for the purpose for which it was designed for decades.

    2. Nobody is going to admit to their contacts, especially if they know those people will then be hounded, harassed and possibly fined for breaking quarantine.
      Putting Dido Harding in charge of it is the kiss of death, as she has negative goodwill with the public.

  67. So how come so many new cases of the virus keep appearing 2 months into lockdown?
    How are they catching it?

      1. Come, come – the Border Farce would never let anyone who was ill enter the UK, would they…?? (sarc)

    2. From hospital staff?
      I’ve just read over on Lockdown Sceptics that at one hospital, 40% of staff tested positive but were asymptomatic.

    3. 319661+ up ticks,
      Evening B3,
      Probably from the incoming tide, stop that and you could be putting the stop to a running power scam.

  68. If we are are really in lockdown , I am in close contact with husband and elder son who lives at home , but works .

    He has no idea who he is in close contact with re his job , because he works yards away from others , he doesn’t know their personal details .

    I have no idea re the personal details of the checkout bod when I buy my groceries .

    This is all a huge muddle , isn’t it?

      1. To save the NHS ………………..?

        I’d like hear Sherelle’s take on the lockdown…

    2. Countries may have destroyed themselves for nothing, but hysteria continues to stifle debate

      We have detonated the global economy to pursue a lockdown experiment that may not have worked, according to the latest evidence. This diabolical revelation should be a world scandal. It should also be a sobering moment of enlightenment for Britain, as we seek to salvage our economy while learning lessons on how to better protect the vulnerable. Instead the Covid narrative becomes ever more surreal.

      The broadcast media is more interested in scalping lockdown flouters than questioning whether shutdowns have served any useful purpose. World-class studies that suggest lockdown did not alter the pandemic’s course are mysteriously vanishing into internet obscurity on first contact with the official narrative. Our greatest minds have resorted to unpicking the issue on offbeat Youtube webinars. No global NGO or locked down country has launched an investigation into their impact.

      This is a scandal so overwhelming that there is only one good place to start: the evidence as it stands. In accordance with pro-lockdown theory, if stay-at-home orders worked, one might have expected to see the daily death rate spike three to four weeks after such measures kicked in. (Studies estimate Covid has a symptom-free incubation period of roughly five days, and fatalities typically occur two to three weeks after symptoms appear.) But in Britain, infections may have peaked a week before lockdown, according to Prof Carl Heneghan of Oxford University, with daily deaths in hospitals plateauing a fortnight after it was introduced. We are not an anomaly: peak dates across Europe also seem to confound the official theory.

      Don’t just take my word for it. A University of East Anglia study posits that Europe’s “stay-at-home policies” were not effective. A JP Morgan investigation suggests the virus “likely has its own dynamics”, which are “unrelated to often inconsistent lockdown measures”. But such seismic insights have failed to induce even the vaguest quiver of serious mainstream debate.

      Nobel Prize-winning mathematician Michael Levitt has fared little better, despite his valiant one-man effort to expose the inconvenient truth about Covid numbers. He has claimed, sensationally, that the modelling that justified lockdown made the fatally incorrect assumption that Covid-19’s spread is continuously exponential. In fact, his research has identified an uncanny pattern from Israel to Iran whereby the virus grows exponentially for two weeks, before slowing, seemingly irrespective of lockdown and social distancing measures.

      In a more sensible world, such findings might stir thoughtful debate about whether Covid was burning out naturally before lockdowns began. It might also prompt a global effort to put other pieces of the puzzle together – for example, establishing whether there is a correlation between countries with high death rates and countries that failed to protect care homes. (They make up half of fatalities in Belgium, which has suffered the worst Covid death toll per capita.)

      But as the holes in Project Lockdown multiply, its advocates flap incoherently to keep their theory afloat. Not least in Britain, where the goal of lockdown lurches from “flattening the curve” to staving off a “second wave” – to apparently now averting the first wave’s “second peak”. But if the UK’S hunger for second-wave speculation has proved insatiable, the raw data is disappointingly bland: with countries across Asia, Europe and beyond opening up, the only countries experiencing material second waves are … Iran and Djibouti, where data lacks reliability, to say the least.

      The poorest look set to pay the highest price for lockdown hysteria: while half of people on £10 per hour face the sack, deprived areas in the North are predicted to be the worst hit by soaring joblessness. Meanwhile, in

      Italy, industrial jobs collapse and Spain’s endemic poverty spirals into an existential calamity.

      Such, too, is the tragic arc of Covid-19’s story in the global south, where following in the footsteps of the West could yet ravage the vulnerable. Take Brazil. Western media’s relentless narrative that the country is gripped by an unprecedented Covid catastrophe because President Bolsonaro has been belligerently sceptical of lockdown is misleading. In fact, with deaths per million still five times lower than in Britain, and an economy one month from collapse, there is perhaps time yet for the West to lead a humanitarian effort to help Brazil and other Latin American countries.

      We should be doing everything we can to help them isolate their vulnerable, placing them in Covid-free facilities, if necessary, while the healthy carry on. Instead the WHO, in its disgraceful 25 May press conference, effectively sold poorer countries a defeatist half-truth: in the absence of “tremendous capacities” for measures like track and trace, their only hope is full-scale lockdown.

      Which brings us to the central reality of this crisis, almost too horrific to consider: that the truth will out when it’s all too late. Is that really the best we can hope for?

        1. Regarding the 359,843 who have died as a result of catching this virus, the earth replenishes that number of people every 36 hours!

      4. Wearing my tin foil hat.

        Let us assume the Chinks designed it and released it deliberately.
        Let us also assume that they didn’t want it to carry on regardless (starring Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jaques).
        They might have tested it a few times around Wuhan and then, happy it runs its course, released it to try to shatter the economies of the West.

        I’m just off to supper with David Icke.

      5. Thanks for posting Grizzly.

        The Government have to continue this ridiculous charade, otherwise admit they were wrong.

        “Is it worth destroying thousands of businesses, millions of jobs, and the prosperity of the world’s fifth-largest economy for the sake of…A virus…

        A humble virus achieved in weeks what the climate alarmists have dreamt of achieving for decades:

        1. The stupid thing is the government haven’t even started to change the narrative – May Open a few shops in midJune but Rishi Sunak didn’t help by extending the furlough scheme until the end of October, that was really mad. To get people back to work, if that’s what they really want, he should end that midJune as well.

        1. Plum asked for today’s Sherelle Jacobs piece to be posted, so I obliged.

          I cut-and-pasted it from today’s “virtual paper” DT.

  70. 24.4C in the shade here. I am invoking Italian afternoon activity schedule and cowering indoors.
    25.2 Now…

      1. So were we [out for a walk, that is] – got back to the car to find that some numptie (me) had left the sidelights on; battery a bit weak after all this lockdown time so car wouldn’t start. Called our assistance number – very good response and all sorted quite quickly. While I was waiting I checked our “What three words” position in case the assistance team asked – stuck.quarrel.indicated !! Nice walk though!

  71. Just go back from a 130 mile round trip to Tescos and Lidl – bit of queuing at Tescos and very well organised routing but no queuing or arrows at Lidl. Shelves well stocked and I’m back to my 6 months of food stock and full chest freezer. Also well stocked with Scotch pies from my favourite pie shop. Very little traffic on the road made for a pleasant journey too (no tourists)

      2. The shops were only a mile away but he got lost ‘cos he was having problems with his vision.

        1. In Dubai a couple of years ago, visiting daughter, borrowed their car for a trip to the local supermarket about 5 km away. Come out of s/m took a wrong turn, couldn’t find anywhere to turn. Ended up going into a hospital car park, asked an ambulance driver who very kindly led us on the road to get back home – 80 km later. Can laugh about it now.

      1. Scotch pies microwaved – no Mars bar (diabetic). The shop also does little steak pies and Macaroni pies
        I’ve got a dozen in the freezer now Triers

        1. Microwaving ANY product made with pastry should be a flogging offence, if make the pastry limp, soggy & unappetising.

    3. My neighbours walked a mile to Tesco’s last week only to find that when they went to the start of the queue they were just round the corner from here.

    4. A good Scotch pie is hard to beat. if you can find one on the South Coast of England..

      1. There’s a shop in Dingwall called George Cockburns who do mail order – Google it. They also do prize winning black puddings

    1. The headline is wrong- Once he dies he is no longer “the world’s Oldest Man”

    1. Wrong, wrong and wrong again.

      The most likely way is mankind’s stupidity.

      1. What the article doesn’t understand is that all the scenarios do not ‘end the world’, just the human race.

        1. I would not put it past “man’s” stupidity to end the world:

          Greeniac: “there’s infinite power and warmth in the Earth’s core.”
          Scientist: “You’re right, let’s extract it.”
          Joe Public: “oops, and thanks for all the fish”

          1. I remember many years ago thinking how geothermal energy must have a great future, but what did I know. It ain’t infinite, but there’s a lot of it.

          4. 3109661+ up ticks,
            Evening M,
            Continuing to support / vote lab/lib/con has got to be in there somewhere.

          6. They are blessed in a geological sense, especially if you like living in a volcanically active region.

        2. The world will never end, it will eventually be swallowed by the sun and then the sun will explode and the cycle will begin all over again

        1. You don’t think 8 could be an act of human stupidity?
          “While it is the only known technique that could stop rising temperatures, there’s still a lot we don’t know, including whether it could destabilize local and global climate or ecosystems. Manipulation on this scale without understanding the effects could turn out to be catastrophic for the human race.”

          2. That is probably the most likely outcome but not a politically acceptable discussion.

      1. That’s not the bottom falling out of your world, it’s the world falling out of your bottom.

        1. No problem. I was feeling flush before Christmas and got my stock of toilet rolls well before the loonies cleared the shelves – and that’s no pork pie.

          2. I always bought loo rolls in 18 or more packs. I didn’t need to panic when they were stripping the shelves, particularly since I have both an upstairs bathroom and a downstairs cloakroom and had packs in both.

          3. Last year I took advantage of an offer at a place near here – 3 x 18 for £11 (and quality stuff).

            Added to what I’d already got, I was well stocked when the bug landed and as of now, I’ve got a total of 60.

            Hopefully and if I’m around to buy the next lot, the bug will be in the history books.

      1. I remember reading that Yellowstone National Park volcano erupts every 600,000 years and it is about………600,000 years since it erupted.

        Watch this space?

        3. Technically, I believe it’s overdue. And there has been considerable ground movement.

          2. I thought it was Huwae’s / Chinese Communist Party’s / WHO’s / EU’s / Neil Ferguson’s/ Dominic Cummings’ / Boris’ / Trump’s fault.

            :-))

          4. Interesting. You’ll only need that and a few others to come out in sympathy across the world and that might just be another Big Bang theory that comes to fruition.

    5. Missed: Gamma ray burst from space. Known and observed phenomenon. A good burst that hit Planet Earth would wipe out all life very effectively. Sort of a cosmic neutron bomb.

      1. It would, but the article revolves around the words ‘most likely’, and only 6 and 7 are totally down to events that humans have no hand in. Moreover, both 6 and 7 are known events that have already occurred to our planet, albeit prior to our great human race’s presently evolved incarnation.

    2. She said she asked for a night off. Really ?
      Perhaps she has been told to something else off.

      1. “Corpus juris”, the legal system that for a couple of hundred years has served dictators in Europe well.

  79. I think the Saxon Queen will say Good night, it’s been a long day and she’s a habit of waking
    up just before dawn. Shall read ‘ The Wine of Angels ” ( Phil Rickman’ s first book ) for a little while
    Goodnight x

    1. I have just started “The Queens and the Hive” – Edith Sitwell’s book about Queen Elizabeth I. It is praised for its poetic language, but I’m finding it very readable nonetheless.

    1. 319661+ up ticks,
      o2o,
      Bloody good advice NEVER heeded by the GB political hierarchy.
      Keep your promises to the peoples.

  87. I do not get this nonsense about Cummings and social distancing. My neighbours have been running Airbnb lettings throughout this supposed lockdown, from a converted garage.

    I would not have noticed but the noise generated by the combined occupants has been inescapable. Their own children are noisy buggers at the best of time but the last few months have been intolerable.

    Others in the village still go out on a Thursday to make a racket. God knows why but then they can chat with neighbours whom they would otherwise have eschewed so I suppose it is not all bad.

    1. I had a long chat while I was walking my dog this morning with a neighbour who was putting her green bin out as I passed. We observed social distancing, but it was good to have some human interaction.

      1. I have been going out for a walk most days. Never have I spoke and have been spoken to with my neighbours in the street.
        We have always been a friendly bunch, but this lockdown has seen new heights of good old fashioned bloody niceness all round.

        1. I usually pass the time of day with fellow dog walkers – it’s a confraternity, after all – but even non-dog walkers are generally friendly and willing to have a chat in the current environment.

    1. 319661 + up ticks,
      Evening C,
      Just remember,
      🎵
      Ho no not now boy, you can’t be a cowboy, with only three hairs on you chest.

    2. Thanks for all the John Denver posts, Conners. Up to this point John Denver had just been a name to me. But his voice on your first post (Sunshine on my Shoulders) impressed me and I have listened to all the other songs you posted as well as reading his Wikipedia entry (just to confirm my vague recollection that he had died in a plane crash). I am now – belatedly – a real fan of his, so thank you Conners for this epiphany.

      And with that I am off to bed to sleep the sleep of the just. (Just sayin’!) Good night all.

      1. Sleep well, Elsie. I am a great fan of John Denver. Such a shame he died so soon. I’m running through his repertoire at the moment. Makes a change from classical music (my other passion).

        1. I still have many of his albums on vinyl but also bought the anniversary box set of the whole collection on cd. Have a couple of videos too and saw him live many times. I wonder sometimes, as an early greenie and wind farm fan, what he’d make of Greta and co now? I like to hope he’d see that it’s all gone awry.

    3. Thanks for all the John Denver posts, Conners. Up to this point John Denver had just been a name to me. But his voice on your first post (Sunshine on my Shoulders) impressed me and I have listened to all the other songs you posted as well as reading his Wikipedia entry (just to confirm my vague recollection that he had died in a plane crash). I am now – belatedly – a real fan of his, so thank you Conners for this epiphany.

      And with that I am off to bed to sleep the sleep of the just. (Just sayin’!) Good night all.

  90. Is it just me, or is the Daily Telegaffe committing suicide with yet more ‘Cummings broke the law’ articles?

      1. If we stop using the Doily Tellylaff will we have to call ourselves

        NoNottlers

        We had better talk to the boss first

          1. But, we do read them

            Even more so, now we have been told that if you hit ‘esc’ key as you open the page you read for free

          2. Actually, I don’t read them, unless they are posted on this blog. I don’t go near the DT.

  91. Nurses at work have been complaining about how tiring it is working in full PPE.
    I’ve suggested they try doing section battle drills wearing NBC state 3 Romeo

    1. Brings back memories of 1971 and taking your gas mask off, reciting your name and number before being allowed to leave the tear gas filled hut.

      1. The last two times, that my gas mask needed testing, I sent the attached Apprentice.

        If he refused, he missed a trip to the Windies

      2. There are so many of us who have experiences the current generation have missed out on. No wonder they are soft!

  92. Oh dear, just opened a bottle of Vouvray, after an evening of wine of a lesser stature. Now I’m worried that I might stay up to finish it. It’s bloody lovely.

  93. Exclusive: Dominic Cummings row re-erupts as police deliver verdict on lockdown ‘breach’

    Investigation concludes Boris Johnson’s most senior aide might have broken lockdown rules when he drove to Barnard Castle

    Force praised for policing ‘without fear of favour’

    Steve White, the Acting Durham Police, Crime and Victims’Commissioner, said: “I am grateful to the Chief Constable for the work
    that the constabulary has conducted in extremely difficult circumstances and the comprehensive and proportionate consideration of the facts.

    “I felt it important that the people of Durham and Darlington could see that the force is, and remains, fair in its approach to policing the
    issues arising out of the Covid-19 crisis and that it will continue to police without fear or favour.

    It will be very interesting if (more likely when) a child grooming situation arises

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/28/dominic-cummings-breach-coronavirus-guidelines-durham-police/

    1. Might have.

      Or on the other hand, might not have;

      Rinse and repeat.

      Don’t these morons have better things to do?

      Don’t answer that!

    2. Just the remainers at the telegraph trying to stir things. It’s over, just like the Telegraph

    3. ‘Re-erupts’? That’s one hell of a spin effort, given the whole affair will be forgotten by the vast majority in a week’s time.

      1. The MSM are frantically trying to fan the flames, but the fire is going out.

    1. My dog loves chasing blackbirds, but he’s satisfied if he can just make ’em emit their alarm call.

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