Thursday 30 July: No one will invest in National Savings if the process remains so opaque

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/07/29/lettersno-one-will-invest-national-savings-process-remains-opaque/

833 thoughts on “Thursday 30 July: No one will invest in National Savings if the process remains so opaque”

    2. Good morning, Oberst and you others.

      ‘Repeal the decision to implement compulsory face coverings in English shops.’

      has been started…… Cynarch posted this late last night and suggested it be
      re-posted to catch the morning rush!

      Edited.

      Edited again… Please see Bob of Bonsall’s post for link,
      my laptop will not accept the correction.

      1. Hi Garlands.
        Your link doesn’t, I’m afraid. It’s just plain text ending in ellipses…
        ;-))

  4. Freddie ain’t happy

    SIR – What a brilliant article by Lord Sumption. At last, a senior voice expressing rigorous realism about this whole miserable fiasco.

    Never in a long life have I seen a nation known for its level-headedness being ducted by an elected government into such headless-chicken panic. And all because of a viral outbreak that may well prove less lethal than several we have suffered in the past 50 years and recovered from – without destroying our society.

    Enough is enough. Put an end to the panic, accept the residual losses and give us our country back.

    Frederick Forsyth
    Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

    1. “Stick to the novels, Freddy!” There, done it for you. ‘Morning all!

    2. SIR – A month ago my 90-year-old father was randomly selected for a postal Covid-19 test. The instructions made it very clear that he should not take the self-test until he had booked an official courier to return it. Every day he has tried to book the courier, only to be informed that there are no available dates. Yesterday the website told him that the test has expired.

      My father has much enjoyed this game. Will the Government now send him a jigsaw puzzle to keep him occupied throughout August? If so, how many pieces will be missing?

      Giles Ramsay
      London SW17

  5. Condemned by his own blathering words

    SIR – I would like to assure Marjorie Duerden and Edward Jackson (Letters, July 28) that Sheffield Cathedral Chapter is absolutely committed to the long-term development of our Anglican choral tradition.

    Our decision to close the current choir was taken after a significant independent review of our music provision, which encouraged us to raise our ambition and advised that a fresh start was in everyone’s best interest. This was hard to digest, but we have found that incremental changes do not have the required impact.

    We are determined that our choir will once again be one of the finest in the United Kingdom, and we will be singing the full choral repertoire: from Mozart, Haydn and Schubert at the Cathedral Eucharist, to Gibbons and Byrd at Choral Evensong. We have also committed ourselves to retaining our financial investment in cathedral music, and are looking to work with partners to increase our resources further.

    The young people who were members of the old choir remain part of our worshipping community, and will be warmly encouraged to join the new choir. There will be new leadership and a safe, welcoming, culture, which will support choristers to achieve at the highest level. We plan to build up the new choir, step by step, from autumn 2021.

    In Sheffield, as in every English cathedral, we want to bring the very best our culture can offer to God in worship. In making this new beginning, our intention is to ensure the health and strength of this tradition in our cathedral for many years to come.

    Very Rev Peter Bradley
    Dean of Sheffield
    The Cathedral Church of St Peter and 
St Paul

    1. These are obviously blatant lies. Why destroy the old if the intention is that the new should replicate it?

      1. Any group of people which is happy and successful in any way but which does not contain the required percentage of minorities is inherently bad, even evil. 0% minorities? How appalling. The very concept is unfair to minorities and must be corrected.
        Don’t agree? Oh dear.

    4. Some cognitive dissonance evident there. But then it goes with the job, I suppose!
      (Oops, my slip is showing.)
      Morning hall.

    5. Everybody knows that when you’re sacked and invited to re-apply for your job, it’s not good news. Who does the Duplicitous Dean think he’s kidding?

    6. “New leadership”…what was wrong with the previous leadership? Was it racist? Exclusive? Somehow I doubt it.

      “Safe, welcoming culture”…what was unsafe and unwelcoming about the previous culture?

      “Support choristers”…were they not supported previously?

      “Looking to work with partners”…apart from the RSCM, who might they be?

      And who conducted the “independent review”? BLM?

      I’m sorry, but this is a load of tosh and waffle, Dean. Honesty demands that you provide the REAL reason why a perfectly good choir has been scrapped, and that there will be no choral presence in your cathedral for more than 12 months? I smell scandal.

      1. Sheffield Cathedral has had three Masters of the Choristers in as many years. It seems likely that any leadership ‘issues’ aren’t in the Music department.

        1. Then the real reason for disbanding the choir is to get rid of people they consider to be troublesome without causing themselves any grief.

          Good morning.

        2. Robert Spowart
          30 Jul 2020 8:50AM
          @Colin Thomasson Plagiarised from elsewhere:-

          “Sheffield Cathedral has had three Masters of the Choristers in as many years. It seems likely that any leadership ‘issues’ aren’t in the Music department.”

          Edit ()

          Delete

      3. I agree that it is utter tosh, however, you forgot to mention “worshipping community”.

        What’s wrong with “congregation” all of a sudden?

        1. You tell me, Sg! Obviously not trendy enough? The word has been worked to death; even our useless London Mayor used “the Grenfell community” in a recent tweet.

  6. The culture war against the past. Spiked. 30 July 2020.

    In the UK, take the example of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. Recently, Welby announced that church statues will be reviewed ‘very carefully’ at major places of worship to see ‘if they all should be there’. Welby explained that not even Canterbury Cathedral or Westminster Abbey would be spared from this review.

    Welby used ecclesiastical doublespeak to justify his call for potentially cancelling bits of his church’s history. He stated that forgiveness can only be granted ‘if we change the way we behave now and say this was then and we learn from that and change how we are going to be in the future’. Here, ridding churches of historic monuments is an act of contrition and repentance.

    Morning everyone. None of this is new; it is in fact a repeat of revolutionary cant in general and all the Marxist tyrannies of the twentieth century in particular. We may gain some relief in knowing that like them it will fail but the eventual cost may prove even greater.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/07/30/the-culture-war-against-the-past/

    1. ‘morning Minty,

      “‘if we change the way we behave now and say this was then and we learn from that and change how we are going to be in the future’. ”

      How can we learn from that which is history, if we destroy history. What will we learn from in the future when some new fad comes along?

    2. ‘morning Minty,

      “‘if we change the way we behave now and say this was then and we learn from that and change how we are going to be in the future’. ”

      How can we learn from that which is history, if we destroy history. What will we learn from in the future when some new fad comes along?

    3. ‘morning Minty,

      “‘if we change the way we behave now and say this was then and we learn from that and change how we are going to be in the future’. ”

      How can we learn from that which is history, if we destroy history. What will we learn from in the future when some new fad comes along?

  7. SIR – Lord Hodgson’s call for a grown-up conversation about population change was timely and entirely right.

    Successive governments have failed to address this issue, which has such a tangible impact on our society. It is also a matter on which there is unambiguous consensus among voters: they do not want perpetual population growth.

    Notwithstanding public disquiet, Britain’s population has risen rapidly since 1997 and continues to do so. The chasm this creates between policy and the electorate’s views contributes to a lack of faith in the accountability of policymakers, which has, in turn, made our politics more polarised. We need to detoxify this issue.

    Britain is currently experiencing unprecedented population growth, which brings both challenges and opportunities. But, as a study in the Lancet has shown, we may at some stage (albeit not for the next half century) experience population decline. These challenges need to be addressed through political consensus and long-term planning.

    In this spirit, we support Lord Hodgson’s proposal that the Government should establish an independent body, modelled on the Office for Budget Responsibility, to consider demographic change in the round. An Office for Demographic Change (ODC) – to conduct analysis and make policy recommendations with long-term implications – would provide a necessary and helpful addition to good governance.

    On the steps of Downing Street last July, the Prime Minister said he was going to “restore trust in our democracy”. The creation of the ODC would be a visible sign of the seriousness of his intentions.

    [Signed by 34 Worthies]

    Ah Ha!! Gather round. Another Quango can be observed forming in the darkest reaches of our galaxy.

    1. Are there any positive opportunities related to population growth? Or, opportunities to catch more diseases, be more crowded on transport, not have enough accommodation, water, sewerage?

      1. Diversity strength.

        What? You don’t like the mutilation of young girls? The rape of children? Not being able to go out of an evening for fear of assault? No go areas? Black looters and vandals?

        Gammon! Xenophobe! Waycist! Brecksiteeer! Boomer!

    2. This quango will find the following:

      Diversity strength
      Immigrants good for economy
      More immigrants needed

      I’d even make a bet with Ladbrookes on that. The result is foregone. A pointless quango that will only confirm the prejudices of those who set it up.

    3. Memo to the 34 worthies: this country needs more people like a dog needs more fleas. (I mean no offence towards dogs, nor indeed fleas.)

      1. 321861+ up ticks,
        Morning JBF,
        I think we should have learnt by now that the same political close shop has been given carte blanche decade on decade that what the Country & the sane peoples of the Country cry out for is of
        NO consequence.
        As a test piece try SHOUTING in priti’s lughole
        NO BLOODY MORE.

      2. You’re one of those waycist, xenophobic types, probably white, almost certainly a boomer who’s had everything given to them and now hates the strength in diversity and the rich benefits massive, uncontrolled immigration has brought to Rochdale, Manchester, Luton, Oxford.

        That sort of opinion is no longer welcome in this diverse, progressive country. We’ll keep your millions in tax we’ve squandered though. We want that. we just don’t like being told the truth that you have a different, more realistic opinion.

    4. Another place at the trough for globalists telling us that diversity and population growth is strength, and we need to take lots of immigrants to protect us against population decline. Great, just what we needed!

      1. If *anyone* believes this pointless quango will find anything but that, I’ve a bridge to sell them.

    6. And a report will be completed by the next half century, if we’re lucky. By which time the population will be (600,000 per annum)x greater. Plus births.

      1. With the expected incoming demographic having 3-5 children per couple that’s 3 million in a generation. Close to 8 million in two.

        Of which, given that more than 60% are purely welfare recipients that’s utterly unsustainable.

        This is why welfare must be cut off immediately.

    1. So true. It’s getting comical now, how this government keeps blundering from one mistake to the next.

      1. Never in the field of British politics has an 80-seat majority been squandered so ineffectually…

        2. Well, it’s driven by instructions from above, plus a ridiculous belief that CO2 makes the planet warmer.

        1. I’ve given up saying “What a pity Orwell didn’t see that when he was writing 1984!”

      1. Go’morgon, Paul.

        Good, A bit chilly now, but supposed to be mid-20s this afternoon.

        1. We are promised 17C – so far, a beautiful autumn-type morning, sunny, dew on the grass, soft air… the kind of day that makes one glad to be alive!

  11. Muslim and Sikh doctors should get special PPE because of their beards, urges BMA chief
    Parliament’s all-party coronavirus group is told many male medics must compromise their religious beliefs to wear ordinary PPE

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/29/muslim-sikh-doctors-should-get-special-ppe-beards-urges-bma/

    (Are they suggesting that this virus lurks in beards, and considering that beards are common in certain communities , therin lays the problem)

    3. Beards make it difficult to get a good seal to a mask.
      The solution (when diving, anyhow) is to gob into your hand and rub the spittle into the offending hair. You can then achieve a good seal that prevents water getting in. I’m not sure about the social niceties as regards wearing masks in hospitals, though.

        2. Far too hygienic, Sue.
          You know the old joke: Old divers never die, their gear just smells that way…

          1. It’s dangerous enough round ‘ere without adding riders! Oops! There I go again!

    4. I have a beard, and am therefore well aware of its excellent capacity to trap particulates coming out of my upper orifice, stopping them getting into the community.

      I find carbolic soap to be useful.

    7. Morning Belle!

      More than Covid lurks in them thar bears, all sorts of germs must be there from their past meals. Pretty unhygenic, I would think.

      Edit, the beards I have come across from those of my friends (and former boyfriends) were at least clean, and didn’t reach down further than two inches or so. Given some of the habits of the oh-so-peacefuls, I wouldn’t like to get close to a beard.

  13. WW1 memorial faces removal after local says it represents “creeping nationalism”

    A WORLD War One memorial could be removed from a village after a complaint its presence represents “creeping nationalism” and “anti-inclusivity”.

    Wylam in Northumberland was among thousands of places across the UK to receive a Silent Soldier sculpture in 2018. The life-size metal silhouettes were designed by the Royal British Legion to mark the centenary of the end of the Great War.

    But two years on from its installation, officials have now started discussions on removing the monument after a villager complained it was “off-putting”.

    In a letter to Wylam Parish Council, the resident, whose identity was not made public, claimed the sculpture was also a sign of “creeping nationalism”, and was “anti-inclusive”.

    Parish councillors said while they disagreed with the sentiments expressed in the letter, it was agreed the sculpture was never intended to be a permanent fixture in the village.

    Councillor Jim Martin said: “I spoke to the Royal British Legion and they said the silent soldiers had to be in place until the end of 2018.

    “My own view is that it’s not a permanent structure and I don’t see why it couldn’t go after Remembrance Sunday.”

    Councillor Jos Joures, who admitted he was “not fond” of the silhouette, told colleagues its removal could cause “upset” in the village but that the issue was one for the landowner.

    He said: “This is an issue between the owner of the sign and the owner of the land – but we did start this whole thing because we wanted it there.

    “My own personal view is I probably wouldn’t put it up in the first place, and I’m not fond of it – but I’m not sure I want to speak on behalf of the village. You will get some of the people in the village upset.”

    Parish council chairman Stephen Duckworth said that while he didn’t agree with points made in the letter, he was wary of its appearance.

    He added: “I’m conscious that there’s been wear and tear and it’s not a fitting memorial if it looks scruffy. Personally, I don’t agree with the premise of the letter. I don’t think it exhibits nationalism, or that it’s off putting, or it’s anti-inclusivity.”

    The council said it will reply to the letter to state that while they disagreed with the concerns, it was not intended to be a permanent structure and the possibility of it being removed could be explored.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/29/ww1-memorial-faces-removal-local-says-represents-creeping-nationalism/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1uz_eLSyzYaMFeryYgMWMDNpj5gJ_ybhwEEwf6FMLX8p3VADQTcR_ipWQ#Echobox=1596094123

    1. If nobody wants him, I’ll give him a good home.
      He can look out over a country that really appreciates what the British and Americans did for them back in the 40s. Not an ungrateful bunch of whimpering little children who would rather have been brought up speaking German and raising their arms to say “Heil”.

      1. and he represents a memorial to those who fought against Fascism, Nazism, anti-Semitism, and for freedom from tyrrany.
        So, the SINGLE COMPLAINANT thinks that isn’t inclusive? Jesus f*cking Christ on a crutch, there are some screwed up people in your country.
        Actually, this has really upset me, more than I would ever have expected. Ungrateful c*nt should have all the Pikeys live wirth them.

        2. I’m with you all the way, Paul.

          I want to meet this “single complainant” face-to-face and “advise” him/her/it on a few facts of life.

          Pretty please?

  14. Calling Phizzee (?) i.e. helpful person who put up details of another website to track old premium bond numbers; could you post it again as I’ve lost the link
    Ta ever so.
    Good Moaning, Each and Everyone.

    2. Hi Anne,

      It depends how old your premium bonds are. Mine few bonds go back about 50 years and I couldn’t check – I was advised by the site to write in – which I did. No reply.

      1. 1965!!! Found amongst old bank statements etc…. in one of approx 47 paper stuffed bags; hand, shoulder, weekend cases and ‘bags for life’.

      2. Hi Herts.

        Premium Bonds don’t have an expiry date.

        Staff are furloughed so try again sometime.

    4. I think you’ll find that Philip is NoTTL afternoon shift. You might need to repeat your plea after 1400 hrs.

      1. I am on early. I let everyone make their serious points without interruption, which i do read. Then later i put my clown hat on.

    5. Yo anne

      Send details of bonds

      Mr Rashid,

      c/o Nigerian Princes’ Trust,

      Lagos

    1. Morning Ogga

      I would love to know where all the healthy well fed illegal immigrants get their money from to be trafficked across the English Channel

      I would also love to know how our Foreign aid is used , and why we are consequently bombarded with adverts to help Africans and Asians with fresh water/ medical aid , what happens to the money .. and is this being used to bring an army into Britain, a thousand a month , and by Christmas , probably more than our own armed services!

      1. Certain NGOs feed them and give them money, but some of the money is raised from bondage – ie modern slavery. Of course, only the British white people are responsible for this.

      2. 321861+ up ticks,
        Morning TB,
        Do not think me familiar but
        Watch the wall my darling as the gentlemen go by,
        the governance politico’s ” we know whats good for you” advice.

    1. It was a faulty fridge.

      Let’s find out why so many illegal immigrants were living there. Let’s find out how asylum seekers could sub rent their council funded flats there.

      Let’s examine the wholesale fraud after the fire.

      Not a chance!

      1. I suggested something similar on Guardian BTL a year or more ago following an article headed ‘Justice for Grenfell’. My missive got six upticks in the few minutes it was visible before moderators deleted it.

      2. That would expose the black market this demographic use, the incompetence of councils and the fraud carried out by that demographic.

        There’s no point bothering to report. It’ll be a brown wash to avoid finding the problems. As usual, the tax payer pays and there are never any consequences.

      4. Morning Minty,

        I would have added at the end of your last sentence “especially with the current mayor” but on reflection, I think it could be true of any of the incumbents of that position, or in any position of authority for that matter. SDTR (Sold down the river) again.

        1. Sometimes one is glad to be proved right but at other times it is a disaster to find that one was right all along.

          My initial reaction to the Bonking Buffoon was that he was full of hot air and bombast and would prove to be deceitful and incompetent in high office. I then hoped against hope that I was wrong and he would prove me wrong.

          The oafish idiot has proved conclusively that my initial assessment was spot on.

          Incidentally I went to see my doctor this morning who is an intelligent and humorous man. Like most GPs in both England and France he is dismayed by the politicians claiming that they are ‘following the science’ over Covid19 when everybody knows that different scientists have completely different views.

          It is the same with man made climate change. The truth of the matter is that there is a difference between hypothesis and fact – but how many politicians are prepared to admit this.

    2. What did race have to do with an electrical fire? Are middle easteners more likely to buy rubbish electronics?

      Dear life. He’s so utterly twisted in his own demented ideology the man must be removed before he.. too late.

    4. To ignore the sub-letting and any other illegal activities is an injustice to the poor sodding taxpayer, but since when has anyone ever spoken up for them?

  17. CPS unveils five-year blueprint to boost rape convictions. Thu 30 Jul 2020 00.01 BST

    Sarah Green, director of the EVAW coalition, said the strategy was a welcome step, but added: “This range of measures is likely to feel too little, too late for the thousands of rape survivors failed by the criminal justice system in recent years.

    “What’s needed now is a real shift in effective leadership in rape and sexual offences, from ministers to the heads of the criminal justice system, to ensure that survivors have a chance at accessing justice in future.”

    The arrogance on view here is quite breath taking. Ms. Green has decided all of herself that the jurors who heard the cases to which she refers and the judge that presided were either morons or accomplices. The unpleasant truth about rape is that it almost impossible to prove. Any attempt to “improve” the conviction rate carries with it the certainty of false imprisonment and the destruction of someone else’s life.

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/30/cps-unveils-five-year-blueprint-to-boost-convictions

  20. The Gurjun are grubbing at the headlines, suggesting that Boris has lied about child poverty.
    It seems he estimated it at 400,000 but in fact according to the leader of the labour party (possibly trawling for votes ?) has said it’s more than 600,000.
    And guess what, it seems to be all the deprived areas of England where the most migrants have arrived since 1997.
    Surely it’s time to let all these poor people go back to where they have come from, they obviously don’t seem to be able to find enough work to support all the children born here since they were allowed to turn up by Blair. Journo circa 2000 verbatum…… ” How many people do you think have come to the UK since you’ve been in office Mr Blunkett” ? Home secretary………….” We have absolutely no idea.”
    Circa 2020. Ms Patel. How many people do you think have arrived in the UK since you have been in office Home secretary ?
    Perhaps some adding up needs to be carried out, it’s too late of course the ongoing and lasting damage is already done.
    I’m not sure what the attempted achievement is/was, but over crowding is a political and stupid misdemeanour. politicians in any shape or form never have to take the can for it. And they should.

    1. The poverty line in the UK is apparently 60% of median income. Since virtually everyone in the UK, even illegal immigrants, have an income of some sort, albeit perhaps from taxpayers, there is no true poverty in the UK. In particular, child poverty is caused by the parents. How many of those parents have wide-screen TVs, smart phones, etc.?

      I am reminded that, many years ago, I stayed in a hotel In Khartoum. When I went out in the morning there was always a man sitting on a step by the front entrance. He always wished me a good morning and when I asked how he was he always replied that he was very well, thank you.

      Unfortunately he must have had a bad case of polio because both his legs lacked any muscle and were twisted out of shape. I had a detailed conversation with him and he turned out to be relatively well-educated but he had been kicked out of his village because he couldn’t work. His only possession was his thobe (jallabiya). I always wished that I had had the means to send him to London to have something done about his legs but unfortunately it was impossible for me to do anything practical at the time.

      As I said, this was many years ago but this man and his positive attitude impressed me so much that I remember him vividly after all this time.

      If someone below the 60% median in the UK is in poverty, how would the Guardian describe this splendid gentleman, not to mention countless millions, unfortunately living in dire circumstances, the likes of which few members of the Labour Party have ever encountered?

      1. When we were overseas years ago , we took pity on a village girl who had river blindness in one eye , and couldn’t be married off or find employment amongst her own kind .. We took her on as a house girl , she was wonderful with the children , she lived in a small 2 roomed house in our garden and had fresh water and a loo , and a bed and a primus stove for cooking on .. cups and plates etc. we gave her food , and malaria tablets , and salt etc as well as a salary .. When we left the country , I sobbed my heart out .. We gave her enough money to get by once we had left , and a heap of recommendations for her next expat employer.

        1. When i first arrived in JHB we lived in decent digs and the lady of the house had the lovely Mary who looked after us she came into our room and brought me and my mate John cups of tea each morning. Gave us breakfast and made sandwiches for lunch. She lived in similar accommodation in the garden. When we both moved down to PE we gave her all our surplus clothing, including unwanted foot wear. The house like many others in the street, is derelict now.
          The problem now is TB although they have a vote but little else went with it. Probably less fulltime employment due to the white exodus.
          When i came round from my hip resurfacing op 12 years ago a black nurse came across the recovery room to check to see if i was Okay.
          She reminded me of Mary and her accent was obviously south African I greeted her in her own Xhosa language, Hello and asked her how she was, it’s about all i could remember. But she a was delighted and danced around saying he speaks my language he speaks my language. She later came to visit me on the ward two days running which was lovely.

        3. When i first arrived in JHB we lived in decent digs and the lady of the house had the lovely Mary who looked after us she came into our room and brought me and my mate John cups of tea each morning. Gave us breakfast and made sandwiches for lunch. She lived in similar accommodation in the garden. When we both moved down to PE we gave her all our surplus clothing, including unwanted foot wear. The house like many others in the street, is derelict now.
          The problem now is TB although they have a vote but little else went with it. Probably less fulltime employment due to the white exodus.
          When i came round from my hip resurfacing op 12 years ago a black nurse came across the recovery room to check to see if i was Okay.
          She reminded me of Mary and her accent was obviously south African I greeted her in her own Xhosa language, Hello and asked her how she was, it’s about all i could remember. But she a was delighted and danced around saying he speaks my language he speaks my language. She later came to visit me on the ward two days running which was lovely.

          1. I had a Kenyan nurse in Hinchinbrook. As she went off duty, I would call out Kwa heri, Brenda! She would wiggle her retreating backside with delight.

      2. Absolutely spot on Sguest. Bravo.
        I find it very annoying when i see supposed orphans in Africa collecting contaminated water ‘near their village’. The governments have the resources to supply them with drinking water. And the UK as far as i know send around 13 billions out of our country per year to aide people and they still beg for money via our televisions. Whilst the money is squandered and their physically able people arrive in Calais to get here. And do nothing more than become slaves or scrounge.

        1. For roughly 60 years we have been bunging £billions at these countries.
          Still, Mercedes and H.A.Rods have done all right out of it.

      3. There is a certain stoicness that is admirable . When I was in Khartoum when I was a child , I remember the Camel Corp, and what magnificent troops they were , and led by a Brit!

        They just get by through thick and thin .

        I think alot of povery in Britain is caused by gambling , on line in many forms , drinking and drugs and debts build up.

        PS . How much does a tattoo cost , all the chavs have them these days .

        1. …and what magnificent troops they were , and led by a Brit!

          That was Rastus’s father no doubt.

        1. Morning Belle.

          Probably because the darkies are too stupid and uneducated to learn English.

          1. They don’t need to Phizz it’s part of the program, or might i say pogrom against whitey

      2. Well, conversely Phizz UK pensioners also don’t work and most on the standard pension pay out are also poor, probably much poorer than the illegal migrants but they seem to manage. And still have to pay out a lot more than those on benefits. Including energy bills and TV licences.
        I doubt if many of them get the free food parcels we so often see being bagged up on TV by volunteers.

  22. Hot dogs: what soaring puppy thefts tell us about Britain today. Thu 30 Jul 2020 06.00 BST

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9e97a20fdff527f25ad54487671d8c22de30c8e70fc4e0112c3428954bf45828.jpg

    With a single dog being sold for as much as £7,500, a dognapping crime wave has swept the country since the start of lockdown. It is a revealing insight into 2020’s great canine obsession.

    Watch your pooches Nottlers and no snivelling as you read this tale of canine crime.

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jul/30/hot-dogs-what-soaring-puppy-thefts-tell-us-about-britain-today-dognapping-lockdown

    2. One of our neighbours, not sure who, has a dog that barks for several hours a day. I’d really like someone to kidnap it.

        1. I am certain my neighbour’s dog is shut out in the garden when they are at home.

        1. Nothing can match the hell of being on nightshifts and having a barking dog in the next flat!

          1. How about the idiot “metal ” fan teenager playing Amon Duul II kerap in the afternoon about 6 feet away, as you try
            to sleep after a shift doubler … with another due that evening.

          2. …Or Beethoven’s 7th blasting through the wall from the next student’s room.

  23. I see the government are bringing in the new Covid restrictions and measures under the slogan of ‘Keeping People Safe’, this isn’t a scientific judgement but all down to the interpretation of what Keeping People Safe means, so just political then and nothing else.

  24. Opportunity for more punning:

    “Government website for £50 bike vouchers has crashed”

          5. He is an archetypal coward. Too frightened to go before the cameras and tell his own rubbish. Perhaps he could get someone to be PM for him as well (except for the money- Boris keeps that).

            ‘Morning Geoff!

    2. These bike vouchers make me furious. Giving more money to lycra louts who terrorise pedestrians and shout at people who get in their path, because heaven forbid, they might have to slow down for an instant. The government is mad and out of touch!

  25. Good morning, all. Grey and dreary start to the day. Not the much heralded sunshine.

    Building up strength to tackle Fakenham market. And Morissons.

  26. SIR – If an employee decides to proceed with a holiday in Spain, knowing about the quarantine rules, and is unable to work on their return, should their employer, the taxpayer or anyone else pay their wages?

    Mac Fearnehough

    Holmesfield, Derbyshire

    1. My company has been quite clear about it: If you travel to a location not on Company business and without prior, explicit approval by Management, and you need to quarantine on your return, that will be treated as time off without pay. If that results in an interruption to normal production, there may also be disciplinary proceedings.

    2. It should have been obvious during the past few weeks that Spain was far from getting on top of the Chinese Virus. The figures said otherwise and yet people seemed driven to visit, and to hell with the consequences. It was not difficult to smell a rat as their tourism industry put out story after story that they were just fine. They were either being economical with the truth or just blatantly lying. Either way, the current bleating from those who should have seen this coming is unjustified – and irritating for the rest of us.

      ‘Morning, Epi.

  27. Morning all.

    SIR – Pat Taylor (Letters, July 27) and others are correct that the banking sector has been far too slow to respond to the current circumstances.

    Despite the Government’s wish that we invest in National Savings to boost the amount of money in the economy, National Savings and Investments (NS&I) systems are making it hard to do so. One cannot download the form to invest in Premium Bonds and post it, because it has been taken offline. One can invest online (subject to system delays), but not everyone wants to – or can – do that.

    If in difficulty, one is expected to telephone for help – but also asked not to call unless the need is urgent. Given all this, I went to my bank to attempt a bank transfer of funds. The bank dutifully put in all the details from the NS&I website – only for them to be rejected as an unrecognised recipient. If I had wanted to continue, it would have been at my own risk – and that is not acceptable.

    Barry Bright

    Storrington, West Sussex

    SIR – NS&I has effectively closed down my only source of income other than my state pension.

    Advertisement

    I have a self-invested personal pension, within which I hold an NS&I Income Bond. I need to access a lump sum from time to time and have done so for many years. Together with my trustee administrators, I have been trying to access this bond for more than two months. Any form of communication is almost impossible.

    No one is able to say when I may be able to access my cash. During my last conversation I was invited to lodge a complaint. That will not pay my bills.

    Peter Dallow

    Warrington, Cheshire

    SIR – After a frustrating wait on the phone, I took the easy option to buy Premium Bonds by bank transfer. However, 10 days on, I am still waiting for an acknowledgement and details of my bond numbers.

    Brenda Bennett

    Hildenborough, Kent

    SIR – You report that the Government’s target for net borrowing through National Savings this year has been increased from £6  billion to £35 billion.

    The 22 million Premium Bond holders may be alarmed to hear that in the event of a shortfall, NS&I “can boost its funds by awarding fewer prizes”. As a former director of policy for National Savings, I know that it does not work like that.

    Advertisement

    The net funding figure represents sales minus repayments. Interest paid out, or prizes in lieu, is not a factor. If it looked as though the target might be missed, an option presented to Treasury ministers could be an increase in interest rates, including the notional rate that determines the Premium Bond prize fund. That would mean more prizes, not fewer.

    Patrick Hickman-Robertson

    Eastbury, Berkshire

    1. They need to abolish the two £1 million pound Premium Bond prizes and increase the number of lesser prizes. The government also gets a cut from the Lottery fund.

  28. SIR – Jonathan Sumption’s piece was excellent.

    The Government appears to be attempting to control the inevitable spread of Covid-19 until a vaccine is developed. This could take a long time.

    Meanwhile, the financial cost to the nation doesn’t bear thinking about. The constant changes to policy are setting people against each other and wearing down morale.

    Stamping out the virus, and keeping it stamped out within our borders, is a futile goal. We all need to make our own risk assessments and then get on with our lives.

    Peter Richards

    Poole, Dorset

    1. Woah there! That’s the beginnings of independence and common sense!

      Careful now! Can’t have that!

  29. SIR – Surely, in a corporation obsessed with diversity, the very concept of a radio programme entitled Woman’s Hour (Features, July 25) must be an abomination.

    Huw Baumgartner

    Bridell, Pembrokeshire

  30. Migrants pictured drying on Kent bench after dumping their stolen dinghy. 30 July 2020.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/60875ea02f93061917b7fcf16d3781a001c6ea2e693c370599477116ad7f3094.jpg

    A group of five migrants have been pictured drying off on a bench on the Kent coast having dumped the stolen dinghy they used to cross The Channel.

    The photographs were taken in Saint Margaret’s at Cliffe on Thursday morning.

    More than 3,000 migrants have now made it across the Channel to the UK this year.

    MADE IT! It’s all gravy now! Free food. Lots of White Ass. Free house. Free everything!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/30/migrants-pictured-drying-kent-bench-dumping-stolen-dinghy/

      1. 321861+ up ticks,
        Afternoon N,
        Better still N, as a one off, keep them send back 650 politico enemas of state to brussels, no return.

  31. Migrants pictured drying on Kent bench after dumping their stolen dinghy. 30 July 2020.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/60875ea02f93061917b7fcf16d3781a001c6ea2e693c370599477116ad7f3094.jpg

    A group of five migrants have been pictured drying off on a bench on the Kent coast having dumped the stolen dinghy they used to cross The Channel.

    The photographs were taken in Saint Margaret’s at Cliffe on Thursday morning.

    More than 3,000 migrants have now made it across the Channel to the UK this year.

    MADE IT! It’s all gravy now! Free food. Lots of White Ass. Free house. Free everything!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/30/migrants-pictured-drying-kent-bench-dumping-stolen-dinghy/

  33. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – Surely, in a corporation obsessed with diversity, the very concept of a radio programme entitled Woman’s Hour (Features, July 25) must be an abomination.

    Huw Baumgartner
    Bridell, Pembrokeshire

    Quite so, Mr B. Once upon a time when I was working ‘out on the road’ (which was all but 5 of my 41 years) I used to tune in to R4’s Woman’s Hour as I travelled between appointments. In those days it was often interesting and informative, and was certainly not the rabidly pro-feminist/anti male diatribe so beloved of the large smug woman with the permanent curtain thrown over her shoulder.

    Many years ago now the BBC tried to put out the men’s equivalent on R4, called The Locker Room. Unfortunately it didn’t have clue and it was soon killed off. However, I reckon there is still a need for a programme that caters for the views of men and that isn’t sport-dominated. Will such a programme ever be made? Not on your life! Making a programme for your indigenous white privileged male? Dream on!

    1. There have been a few valiant attempts to produce a genuine programme for men, that is not according to social studies-trained feminists’ prejudicial stereotype of them.

      Two that come to mind are George Clarke’s ‘Shed of the Year’ and James May’s ‘Man Lab’.

      1. But men should only be allowed to see & listen to what some women think is good for them, and programmes such as man-lab are too silly and frivolous to be allowed.
        Just like, in TV and advertising, the man (Father) is ridiculous, a fool, and the woman (Mother) is sensible and organised.

        1. Talking of TV advertising, how come that in the good old days, a typical woman would be biting suggestively on a phallic chocolate bar, but today, nearly all women have urinary incontinence?

          3. Regrettably the phallic chocolate bar to which you refer has shrunk somewhat…something to do with age, I expect.

          5. …and taste. It’s not even “quality over quantity” now – we get neither, since Cadbury’s were taken over by Kraft. Probably disgusting Hersheys in disguise.

            Morning Hugh!

          6. I was really took aback about a week or so ago.
            MB bought some Cadbury’s fruit and nut when he went to the garage. For several years I’ve always bought ALDI or Lidl chocolate so had not caught up with more recent developments.
            Holy smoke; what the blue blistering blazes have they done to Cadbury’s? It was a sickly greasy goo; it adhered to the roof my mouth like superglue (or, as I imagine super glue would behave).
            It was disgusting.

          7. At least it has weaned me off so-called chocolate. So many of my former favourites are now rubbish.

          8. Taken over by an American company who promised to keep its factory at Bourneville, then reneged on their promise and re-located to Europe before changing the formula of the CDM to one more acceptable to American customers.

        2. Yes; feckless male versus sensible female…the basis of so many adverts. And, more recently, so many ‘people of colour’. I’m glad we record most of our non-BBC programmes, where the timely press of a button usually spares us this ridiculous drivel.

      1. On the news the other night they gave time to interview “promote?” a new magazine titled “COCOA” – aimed at the Black community – Can you imaginre the uproar if a magazine titled “BLANCO” was published -? ?

        – I seem to recall we used stuff Blanco on our webbing when in the Army ? ?

    3. The programme does cover some interesting issues but I agree that it shouldn’t be exclusively for women. When DJM moves on, it could be renamed e.g. Life Hour or summat.

      Ps I made a comment a few days ago pondering DJM’s replacement – bet it’s a WOC* or possibly even a trans woman, i.e. a man.

      *WOC – Woman of colour. Is the ‘C’ a bit too much like a ‘G’ here do you think?

    4. Morning, Hugh.

      What content, precisely, would a programme aimed solely at men contain? I can guess that whatever they put on it would have me reaching for the “off” button or retuning into another station.

    5. The woman with the curtain throw over her shoulder is unbearable.. I think she must have many issues of her own to deal with … and just projects herself.

      After the promotion of a new magazine for black girl children , I browsed the magazine rack in the supermarket where I I was shopping yesterday .

      I was not at all surprised to see that the selection of magazines for women front covers were adorned with smiley attractive coloured females , and very few white white women .

      I haven’t looked at a magazine since January , when I last visited my hairdresser.

        1. Oh dear .

          I haven’t been to my hair dresser yet , I will wait untill I look REALLY straggly .

          I must find out whether the salon is up and running . I have to travel to Wimborne , long way from here, and the roads are really chaotic with traffic and tractors , start of the harvest now!

        2. I always take a book or my own magazine i.e. The Spectator or History Today.
          I have no desire to read about some fat @rsed bint’s latest travails or lipstick choices.

        3. My hairdresser is once again providing coffee. It occurred to her that all she has to do is wash the darn cup.

          I used to supply the magazines but the Speccie is the only one I’ve been buying of late. My last glossie was a Tatler with the Duchess of Cambridge on the cover. Apparently Kate didn’t approve the pic or the article and complained. I rather liked it.

    6. The programme does cover some interesting issues but I agree that it shouldn’t be exclusively for women. When DJM moves on, it could be renamed e.g. Life Hour or summat.

      Ps I made a comment a few days ago pondering DJM’s replacement – bet it’s a WOC* or possibly even a trans woman, i.e. a man.

      *WOC – Woman of colour. Is the ‘C’ a bit too much like a ‘G’ here do you think?

      2. BSK, the re-education mob is about to remove your front door In response to such a wicked suggestion!

    1. The days of the week are named after various deities, as are half the months of the year; why pick on BC and AD? (Luciferian? good one!)

      1. “The days of the week are named after various deities.”

        Only Tuesday to Friday are. Saturday to Monday are named after objects in the solar system.

  36. Light salad for lunch including home grown tomatoes and potatoes, with home baked bread.
    This is just a learning curve for when the thirty third virus wave strikes us, I plan to be able to survive on chip butties.

  37. Battered bus drivers of Rome given martial arts training as they try to enforce anti-virus rules. 29 July 2020.

    They are hot, crowded and have an alarming propensity for spontaneously combusting, but conditions on buses in Rome are now so challenging that drivers are being given martial arts training.

    The capital’s drivers say they are being increasingly abused, both verbally and physically, for trying to enforce anti-coronavirus regulations, including the wearing of face masks and social distancing between passengers.

    The question you have to ask yourself here is: WHY? Not why are they taking Martial Arts, (an inherently stupid idea in itself since nothing of value could be learned in the time available) but why put yourself at risk, both physical and legal, for a Government regulation? The same applies here in the UK. Why become a lackey of the State without either recognition or support? Better by far to mind your own business and leave the State to its own devices!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/29/battered-bus-drivers-rome-given-martial-arts-training-try-enforce/

      1. Do not let them on the bus, unless they show proof of identity and the right to travel in Italy/EU

    3. Yes I find it surprising that Italian bus drivers give a damn about masks, social distancing etc. I always thought in Europe they just ignored the rules when it suited them, with Med Europe being particularly relaxed.

  38. A photographer went to a dinner party. The host says, “I love your
    pictures, you must have a good camera.” After the party the
    photographer says to the host, “That was a lovely meal, you must have a
    good stove.”

      1. As I have lived my whole life with white privilege, I expect both don’t you know.

        1. Throughout my childhood my shoes came from jumble sales. Not from the Nike shop.

          4. No, i can’t walk in heels. 🙁

            Actually i do have three older brothers but we all wore shoes until they fell to pieces. Plus, my brothers never once gave me anything. My eldest brother would secretly eat Mars Bars in his bedroom. He is very fat now. Ha ha.

          6. Only once did i have to go to school in my fathers slippers. I had a bandage on my foot after being run over and couldn’t get my shoes on. Oh, the shame.

          3. [USA, New York] – You can bet your boots they’d rather have Biden and DeBlasio than Trump and Giuliani.

  39. The BBC has gleefully featured this report in its continuing campaign against BJ and the late lockdown. Radio 4’s ‘World at One’ interviewed the Speigelhalter fellow who, to his credit, warned against drawing any firm conclusions from comparisons between countries and the measures they have taken – there are too many differences, notably in the compiling of data and the hugely varying travel habits of the populations.

    The only really debatable moment was when he spoke of Belgium. It is ahead of the UK on per capita deaths; he put this down to it being ‘generous’ in recording Covid as the cause of death. Um….

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53592881

  40. Russia’s Transgender People in Their Own Words. 30 July 2020.

    Russian lawmakers recently introduced legislation that will have major implications for the country’s transgender population.

    If passed, the draft law — which also seeks to ban LGBT marriage and adoption — will make it impossible for transgender people to change their gender on official documents after they have transitioned.

    There must have been a point when the planet passed through the Wormhole and we came out as our mirror images but I don’t know when!

    https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/07/30/russias-transgender-people-in-their-own-words-a71010

  41. My mum gave me some old photos, and asked me if I could scan them, photoshop my sister’s ex husband out then reprint them.
    I said no problem I could even replace his head with a famous person’s head, she thought that was a brilliant idea ..

    She may have a job explaining why Jimmy Savile is cutting the wedding cake with my sister though.

  42. 321861+ u ticks+ up ticks,
    O2O,
    Was this at a council meeting Og ? could very well have been.

  43. When I’m bored I ring random people in India, ask them if they’d like faster broadband then put the phone down mid conversation.

  44. STOP IT!

    “Stop calling our wonderfully professional nurses “FAT”, Charles Moore, they are the BEST at patient care!” [Stamp, stamp, scream!]

    SIR – At a time when nurses have gone above and beyond to care for their patients, many will be hurt by Charles Moore’s attack on their weight (“If we must be slim, why are so many nurses fat?” Comment, July 28).

    If nursing staff talked to their patients in this way, people wouldn’t trust us or our advice. There’s a reason why nurses rank consistently among the most trusted professionals.

    Rather than “dominating” hospitals, as Mr Moore suggests we do, trade unions are campaigning for healthy workplaces with improved access to nutritious food, as well as healthier working patterns. This is difficult when there are 40,000 vacancies in the NHS in England alone, stretching staff too thinly. Long shifts lead to poorer mental and physical health among nurses.

    This pressing issue will not be solved by singling out nurses, who, like the country they care for, need to be supported to live more healthily.

    Susan Mandy Rice-Davies Masters
    Director of Nursing, Policy and Practice, Royal College of Nursing London W1

    1. Try and make sure you have a GP that is fat, smokes and likes a pint. They understand real life.

      1. That describes most of the GPs of my younger years. Very few of them left these days.

    2. People really don’t like facts, do they.
      I saw something on here yesterday and the woman who made the statement immediately applied it to female nurses. Very sexist. There are plenty of male nurses

    4. A fat nurse can also be a good nurse. One does not exclude the other, but evidence shows many nurses are, indeed, overweight.

    3. I always say when something (or someone) cannot be found: “Have you looked in the fridge?”

  46. Just attended M&S then Tesco with my old scarf wrapped round. No Issues apart from it falling off a couple of times…
    Tesco fresh meat counter is open again, but they are using silly little paper bags for choose your own apples, which split at the slightest provocation. One dirty look, from the Tesco checkout woman hiding, maskless, behind her ‘protective’ shield…

  47. My ex-girlfriend is currently watching Star Trek Discovery on my Netflix account, in her own home, which is fine.
    She’s on the penultimate episode of season one, guess who’s going to change the password before she can watch the season finale? 🙂

    2. You would be doing her a favour. It has poor reviews along with Star Trek Picard, both trashing the Star Trek legacy.
      Woke personified.

  48. Good morning, my friends

    A couple of days ago there was a discussion on this site of the phrase all that glisters is not gold and I gave the context of the casket scene in The Merchant of Venice. I then remembered that Sir Thomas Gray wrote a poem which used the same phrase:

    Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes

    THOMAS GRAY

    ’Twas on a lofty vase’s side,
    Where China’s gayest art had dyed
    The azure flowers that blow;
    Demurest of the tabby kind,
    The pensive Selima, reclined,
    Gazed on the lake below.

    Her conscious tail her joy declared;
    The fair round face, the snowy beard,
    The velvet of her paws,
    Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,
    Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,
    She saw; and purred applause.

    Still had she gazed; but ’midst the tide
    Two angel forms were seen to glide,
    The genii of the stream;
    Their scaly armour’s Tyrian hue
    Through richest purple to the view
    Betrayed a golden gleam.

    The hapless nymph with wonder saw;
    A whisker first and then a claw,
    With many an ardent wish,
    She stretched in vain to reach the prize.
    What female heart can gold despise?
    What cat’s averse to fish?

    Presumptuous maid! with looks intent
    Again she stretch’d, again she bent,
    Nor knew the gulf between.
    (Malignant Fate sat by, and smiled)
    The slippery verge her feet beguiled,
    She tumbled headlong in.
    Eight times emerging from the flood
    She mewed to every watery god,
    Some speedy aid to send.
    No dolphin came, no Nereid stirred;
    Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard;
    A Favourite has no friend!

    From hence, ye beauties, undeceived,
    Know, one false step is ne’er retrieved,
    And be with caution bold.
    Not all that tempts your wandering eyes
    And heedless hearts, is lawful prize;
    Nor all that glisters, gold.

    2. It reminds me of a joke.
      A little girl is digging a 2ft square 2ft deep hole in her back garden.
      Her elderly neighbour pops her head over the fence.
      “What are you doing Emily” ?
      “I’m burying my gold fish Mrs Jones”.
      “That’s a rather large hole for a gold fish Emily” !
      “Yes Mrs Jones, it’s because it’s inside your effing cat” !

    3. I did that poem for my Grade 6 Speech and Drama exam! Loved it but very sad!

  49. CPS unveils five-year blueprint to boost rape convictions. Thu 30 Jul 2020 00.01 BST

    Sarah Green, director of the EVAW coalition, said the strategy was a welcome step, but added: “This range of measures is likely to feel too little, too late for the thousands of rape survivors failed by the criminal justice system in recent years.

    “What’s needed now is a real shift in effective leadership in rape and sexual offences, from ministers to the heads of the criminal justice system, to ensure that survivors have a chance at accessing justice in future.”

    The arrogance on view here is quite breath taking. Ms. Green has decided all of herself that the jurors who heard the cases to which she refers and the judge that presided were either morons or accomplices. The unpleasant truth about rape is that it almost impossible to prove. Any attempt to “improve” the conviction rate carries with it the certainty of false imprisonment and the destruction of someone else’s life.

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/30/cps-unveils-five-year-blueprint-to-boost-convictions

    1. Maybe police should take the knee more often and stop arresting people.
      Especially if those people are enriching our pale, stale culture.

      1. 321861+ up ticks,
        Morning Anne,
        I do believe that is the message priti is trying to get across at Dover with a strong nudge nudge,wink,wink about it.
        Still the establishment parties are winning through.

        One, maybe two, but no way three GE, with the same voting pattern will have the whole Country on both knees , five times a day, and that is money in the bank ( no interest) racing cert.

    2. Yo Minty

      The simple answer

      1. ALL non-married ‘women’ to be fitted with Internet/phone controlled Chastity Belts

      2. If the woman decides that coital intercourse is acceptable, she gives the male of the two, her daily PIN

      3. He then contacts The Male Safety Unit and says that sex has been agreed and gives them the Lucky Ladies daily PIN:

      4 He is given an Acceptance Code

      5 She then contacts her ‘Belt Unlock Provider’ passes the acceptance code nimber to them, together with her paramours PIN

      6..The box is then unlocked let the Games begin

      7 If there is a power outage, the system reverts to manual

    4. Those who are convicted often receive trivial sentences. The tariff for violent rape is up to a life sentence. How often does this happen? Yet almost all rape cases that reach court are violent, that is, force was used.

      1. 321861+ up ticks,
        Morning HP,
        We should consider ourselves lucky in one respect that minor crimes are not financially rewarded as a norm.
        Major crimes / treachery as with politico’s and those in positions of power are overlooked in the main because they brought the minor criminals to book……….. then compensated then in many ways.

    1. I linked this to youtube to put in my favorites to view later. They had removed this facility and no comments were allowed. This is Youtub censoring Farage. So I had to send it to my e mail so Ican link to it.

      1. Have you tried opening it and then Bookmarking it? (Five point star.) That may be only available on Firefox?

    2. No wonder Farage is so hated by the likes of Johnson, Major, Cameron, Heseltine, Clarke and May: he shows them up as humourless and boring pygmies lacking all real charisma..

      1. To them he must appear like a guard bee that buzzes irritatingly around your protective veil and doggedly refuses to give up its attack. You can back off and try to ignore it, but it follows you around, probing your defences. Extremely unnerving.

        2. I joined Spotify last month and I have already made a number of playlists:
          1951–1959
          1960–1962
          1963
          1964
          1965
          1966
          1967
          1968
          1969
          1970–1971
          1972–1973
          1974–1976
          1977–1979
          1980–1983
          1984–1986
          1987–1989
          1990–1999
          2000–2020

          You can see which period was my formative years. Green Tambourine by The Lemon Pipers sits proudly on my 1968 playlist.

          Although the video gives the date of the song as 1967, that was when it was recorded. It entered the UK Top 40 in mid-February 1968, reached a peak at No. 8 in mid-March, then dropped out of the chart in late April.

          1. Have you a premium account and have you noticed a difference in sound quality between the free account and premium?
            I am also making up playlists at the moment.

          2. Yes I have the premium account. I got it so that I don’t get adverts. I’ve not heard the non-premium so I haven’t heard the difference in sound quality.

          3. Thanks, I may try the premium account trial but I will wait until the autumn to give it a go.

    1. I think that perhaps his resignation is what the the majority of the government (Remain) and the eu want. Possibly himself. I also think that he never expected to be given a huge mandate by the people to ‘get brexit done’ when he put it to the country – hoist by his own petard and the law of unexpected consequences. His way of ‘getting brexit done’ was going to be a fudge-about of May’s withdrawal agreement. I suspect self-sabotage.

  54. Good afternoon dear Nottlers!

    I come to you with a request for help. As you may know, our younger son’s girlfriend, Jessica, is currently doing a PhD in Maths at Lancaster University. She has just designed and published a survey to try and measure – properly – how Covid-19 spreads. The survey is completely anonymous and participants must live in the UK.

    I’d be very grateful if some of you could take the time (5 to 10 minutes) to complete this survey for Jessica – I’ve put the link below. Many thanks!

    https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/health-and-medicine/research/coconet-study/

      1. Oh yes, absolutely! As this is an online survey, she is worried that the over 70s will be under-represented, so she is really grateful for your cooperation.

        1. Not sure if Nottlers are representative of most over 70s – we’re a cynical bunch!

    10. Completed but may not be accurate. I have no idea how many colleagues I spoke to yesterday or what their ages might be so I’ve guestimated.

        1. It asked whether one is working from home or going to work. I’m doing a combination – 3 days wfh, 2 days on site. A combination option would help.

        2. “Indoors” caused a slight problem for me – it was an indoor arena (like a big barn), not an office, shop or house! I put indoors anyway. Also, when it asked how far I’d travelled, was that only the outward journey (how far from home) or the total distance there and back?

    17. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e95f098a70bf09cb21f66d6f5dcba6d76bc239868776c21033d57d46bc84d963.jpg

      Hi, Caroline.

      Sorry, but since I do not live in the UK I cannot assist. However, I do have a question for you.

      When I visited the campus at Lancaster University way back in 1981, there was a duckpond and, adjacent to it in the roadway, the students had erected a road warning sign showing a duck and ducklings. Are you able to say if that sign is still there? I know it was fondly loved by all the students.

      1. I’ve just asked Henry, and he says that the sign is indeed still there! He takes exception to the fact that the place is now called a “lake”.

    18. I would if I could, but I can’t, so I won’t.

      A nerd asks:
      Is encouraging a whole herd of wrinkly people to answer going to skew the results, and have the collators built in a moderator?

    20. Done.

      But the last stupid question – requiring an email address for a ‘yes’ answer – completely blows the anonymity of the survey – so I said ‘no’ …
      DOH !

    21. Just started and thank her from me for asking my Sex and not the abhorrent Gender.

  55. I don’t know if this made your news in the UK, we heard an interview on our Canadian news on Monday night..

    A man in New Hampshire tried parachute jumping for the first time last week. Unfortunately he had not fastened his false leg securely so as they floated down towards the ground, his titanium leg hurtled down past him at breakneck speed before embedding itself in a farmers field. All ends well, there were many volunteers out searching for the limb, which was found after a couple of days.

    Imagine a poor farmer running into the leg during the harvest, I imagine that it would put a dent in the combine and it would be quite a shock to find just a leg trapped in the machine.

    1. It reminds me of Douglas Bader, whose Spitfire was shot down in 1941. Attempting to bail out, his false leg became trapped in the cockpit. The retaining strap eventually snapped when he released his parachute and he exited the aeroplane and floated to earth with one false leg intact and one missing.

        1. “I’ve got nothing against your right leg. The trouble is, neither have you”.

      2. Slightly awkward: Bader baled out over German-occupied France and was captured …

        1. And the Germans permitted a new leg to be dropped by parachute on an airfield in France.

    2. There is a story about rock climber Hugh Herr [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Herr ] climbing in the ‘Gunks and falling off, breaking one of his prosthetic legs in the process – the leg, complete with climbing shoe, landed at the foot [no pun intended] of the crag, causing a passing non climber to faint! Or so the story goes.

      1. I have my ‘old legs’ on today. Simply because the ‘new’ ones have become rather sweaty and smelly, and need a damn good clean.. This involves at least an extra couple of stump socks on either side, and the feet are rather more flexible than the newer ones. Biggest issue is that I’m around 2 inches shorter with the old legs, and my trousers are in close contact with the ground…

        2. Prostheses sweat – the things you learn here! 🙂

          But, as a gentleman, surely you perspire, as only horses sweat.

    4. I believe that a large foreign object would not get past the cutting edge of the combine head; if it were to get through, New Holland machines have a metal detection device that flashes a warning in the cab. But it’s a good story.

  57. Dollar to Pound exchange rate ($1.30) is highest for quite some time. Any ideas why?

    2. Every now and then, people start imagining that the days of dollar hegemony are ending. They’ll be right, one day.

  58. If Britain didn’t have millions of Asian and African/ Carib / African migrants, would we have such a high Covid figure.

    Is Britain a hoist to its own petard?

    1. These immigrants are attempting to come here illegally. that is a crime. Border Force and the RNLI are complicit.
      How would it be if some enterprising patriots obtained a stout vessel, say a steel fishing trawler, and intervened? Preventing a crime being committed can be no crime.
      If some of the dinghies and ribs are sunk, and the occupants drown during their illegal endeavours, well, that would be too bad.

  60. Back from Fakenham. The market was OK -quite busy. But the shops – all these damned signs: “Keep your distance”; “One way”; “Only one person in aisle”; “Only one person on the stairs”; “DO NOT ENTER – ring the bell”. etc etc etc. Shrieking mask ragers…. Totally depressing – and infantilising – and demeaning.

    Thank God we only go there once a week or so.

      2. Here’s a good one………….we have a wasp nest, they are getting through the corner of the soffit on our garage.
        To save me from paying a pest controller around a 100 quid, or driving around DIY and other outlets, i ordered two cans of Rentokil wasp spray from ‘amaze on’ and a small tub of Rentokil wasp killing powder.
        The door bell rang late afternoon yesterday the guy had dumped the parcel on the door step. and was half way back in his van. Whoosh gone.
        Picked up the parcel took it inside, opened it only to find 2 one kilogram packets of Icing sugar ??????????
        ll details on outside correct Invoice correct, contents AWOL ???
        Good job the packets are sealed in side plastic bags they might attract wasps.
        I hope the person or persons who have my Wasp killing products can read English.

      3. I ordered a bottle Dubonnet from Amazon yes’day. It’s scheduled to arrive today. No postage to pay because of Prime.

          1. Couldn’t get it in W/rose yes’day (they no longer have it) & Google tells me it’s out of stock at Tesco.

    2. As Katie Hopkins tweeted (earlier on this thread):

      “We are mortal. People died before Corona. Death is part of life. AND life is meaningless if you don’t LIVE IT BIG.”

      I think the girl may have a point.

      1. Big – as in lard-ass? People are doing that perfectly now-a-days, Bill.

    3. Saw a notice a week ago: Only 300 people on the train at once – so, do you have to count heads in all carriages before getting on the train?? How long will that take…?

  61. Just watched Masterchef. The contestants were cooking for the staff of guide dogs for the blind. There wasn’t a single BAME eating the food. Close them down NOW!

      1. Some of the guests were blind and had guide dogs. Torturous for them unless everyone dropped some food off their plates.

      1. Couldn’t you have placed yourself to the right or left of the picture?

          1. “I keep your picture, upon the wall…it hides a messy stain that’s lyin’ there…”

        1. Just got back from the police station. The Missus had to come and bail me out.

      1. You should be wearing your specs outside the mask to hinder their misting up.

        1. That was the one and only time I’ve put it on so far – but I’ll probably wear them over the top when I have to go shopping tomorrow.

          1. Do tell us how you get on. I’m thinking of going to St Ives open air market first thing tomorrow. I’m not sure of the protocol re face masks.

          2. I won’t be going first thing – but I’m meeting a friend for coffee and a bacon sarnie at 10.30, and will do the shop after that.

          3. “Take it easy, take it easy
            Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy…”

          9. I don’t want to scorch the Romanescos. It’s the only place I can get them.

        1. Take specs off with the right hand, remove mask with the left, replace specs.

          Or vice-versa if you’re kackhanded.

          1. Something to try, glasses always end up coming off when I take off the muzzle.

  63. ‘Don’t look at her, talk to her or approach her’: Australian TV executive reveals bizarre demands from Ellen DeGeneres’ ‘terrified’ staff – as her show faces an investigation into ‘toxic, bullying’ workplace. 30 July 2020.

    A senior executive of Australia’s Today show says he was told not to look at or speak to Ellen DeGeneres when she appeared on the programme back in 2013.

    Neil Breen, who now presents his own show, said Ellen’s staff were the only ones who were allowed to interact with her – and they ‘walked on eggshells’, laughing so loudly at her jokes during the interview that he had to tell them to be quiet.

    He added that Ellen’s people dictated everything – from seating, to lighting, to how the interview would work – adding that he found the whole situation ‘bizarre’.
    He spoke out as the 62-year-old American chat show host, whose philosophy is ‘be kind’, faces an investigation over allegations of racism, bullying and a ‘toxic environment’ behind the scenes of her show.

    The MSM usually represents members of the Gay Community as rounded figures, wise beyond their years, drenched in worldly compassion and tolerance that passeth all human understanding. To those of us from the real world, who have experienced their narcissism, paranoia and neurotic posturing at first hand, the revelations about Ms DeGeneres will come as no surprise! In fact I have to confess to some considerable schadenfreude at her exposure.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8574301/TV-executive-reveals-bizarre-demands-Ellen-DeGeneres-terrified-staff.html

    1. A number of them seem to be so full of themselves, with what I will not say. The only question should be, do you want your fee, or not.

    2. So, it would not be advisable to say

      How now Brown Cow is a load of bull to you

    3. Have never seen any of her shows.

      Appears I haven’t missed anything worthwhile.

      1. Not really Alf. She plays to all the PC memes. You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all!

        1. It seems like only yes’day that I was admiring her in that legal soap (can’t remember the name, although it’s on the tip of my tongue.)

          2. In Germany I used to watch “The Golden Girls”. I was really well dubbed. When I got back to Blighty the voices were soooo disappointing.

    6. It is a disease with some of these luvvies, Lopez is another who has been reported to be full of demands, before a BBC interview is the one I seem to recall.

    7. Funny, with all her posing and outfits, she still has the face of a middle aged female teacher.

  64. Last word on the extended funeral of the late Canon Bill Scott.

    Yesterday, after the mass – the coffin was taken away (to end up at the crem).

    A procession of a couple of hundred followed the hearse down the street – and there was a choir, singing, too. They may ban it in church; but not in the street.

  65. Contrary to those letters complaining about N S & I and the issue of Premium Bonds, I bought a load on line last week, got immediate acknowledgement and found that to read your numbers etc you have to go to their web site and log in, I have since bought more in a 2 minute contact with the web site. Easy Peasy

    1. The one pain being that if you ever hit backspace on the site, you have to go back to the beginning and re-enter your number…

        1. I’ve put it in its own little text file so I can cut and paste as required.. It can’t be stored with a password manager.

          1. I have also bought Premium Bonds online recently with no issues. Works with my password manager as well, all I have to enter manually is my surname. I’m using Norton / Symantec.

  66. Dubonnet just arrived, that’s less than 24 hrs. The driver & I had a good laugh about proving my age.

    Hmmm… Brenda’s cocktail is quite pleasant!

    1. Moh ordered a new golf bag on Monday after a very wet round of golf ( his old one was soaking wet and leaked like mad) he chose a new one on line on Monday night , and blow me down with a feather , a big box from Amazon arrived Tuesday lunchtime .. He was amazed … and so was I .

      1. I ordered facemasks in early May, shipped (from China of course) about three days later. A week after that, Amazon sent an email saying that the vendor was a scam artist and offered to refund my money.

        My golf baby took three days, there again it was a long trip all the way across Canada.

      2. Amazon are very quick. I ordered a jacket and trousers from Mountain Warehouse and they took two weeks.

        1. Presumably that is how the boss of Amazon is said to be worth $170,000,000,000. He’s obviously not trying hard enough…

        2. Cottontraders, where I buy 99% of my clothes, take about 3 days on average.

          2. Does their stuff still have ‘Cottontraders’ logos all over the place? I won’t buy their stuff for that reason. I charge for advertising.

          3. Some & some, but those that have them are almost inconspicuous. I went through the label phase with Paul & Shark when I lived in Germany, where & when labels mattered, also the right Cologne. I got over it.

          5. You’re thinking of 4711. I should have said Eau De Toilette.

            Davidoff Cool Water, or Marbert Man. I don’t have any smellies now except the MM shower gel.

          9. Natürlich habe’s verstanden; ich bin bloß ein Schritt voraus.

            Nebenbei, statt ‘das macht nichts’ ist es besser, wenn Du ‘das spielt keine Rolle’ sagst.

    2. Ah the benefits of a somewhat civilised alcoholic drink retail system where Dubonnet is listed at £8 per 750ml bottle..
      Our government run retail monopoly in Ontario is proudly announcing home delivery for only a $12 handling fee but warn of a five day wait before goods are shipped. Just to make it less convenient, home deliveries are only being made to the nearest post office.

      Luckily vineyards are allowed to sell their product direct to customers (whoopie) so we just need to phone the local vintner and he will drop off wine on his way home.

  67. Yesterday I was outraged by a young female black activist and supporter of the erstwhile leader of Labour Party, one Mr. Corbyn.

    Her name is Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, and she was very happy about the arson attack on the family of Tommy Robinson.

    https://www.politicalite.com/dumb-lefties-alert/pure-evil-left-wing-activist-celebrates-arson-attack-on-tommy-family-home/

    Today, there is a discussion started by Ready Eddy, 6 hours ago, in which several of us mentioned some fine people without any thought of the colour of their skin.

    It is people like this ignorant, malevolent, young meddler who are the real racists, doing everything they can to undermine the heritage, culture and the innate common decency of the indigenous inhabitants of this country.

    Will anyone ever have the courage to defy the Guardian and the BBC by putting a stop to this scourge, or is it already too late?

        1. It can’t, it’s been disarmed.

          The criminals have the guns and in most cases the bully rules the playground.

          1. I have a very sharp machete and anyone threatening me in my home will find that I am very adept in its use.

          2. Never take a machete to a gun fight.
            };-((

            I’m starting to regret giving away all my swords!

      1. I heard somewhere that the nation’s fitness dropped measurably when remote controls were introduced…

  70. I’ve done the math (sic) so you don’t have to. An annualized (sic) quarterly rate of 32% is an actual quarterly rate of 7.25%. No need to thank me.

  75. Moh and I stayed up late one night a few nights ago and watched old Top of the Pops acts and their music.. some of it was so nostalgic . Moh commented on

    Where Do You Go to (My Lovely) 1969 ,
    Peter Sarstedt

    You talk like Marlene Dietrich
    And you dance like Zizi Jeanmaire
    Your clothes are all made by Balmain
    And there’s diamonds and pearls in your hair, yes, there are
    You live in a fancy apartment
    Off the Boulevard St. Michel
    Where you keep your Rolling Stones records
    And a friend of Sacha Distel, yes, you do
    But where do you go to, my lovely
    When you’re alone in your bed?
    Tell me the thoughts that surround you
    I want to look inside your head, yes, I do , Etc etc

    Moh wondered who on earth Zizi Jeanmaire was , and what a strange name ..

    Here she is … she died 2 weeks ago

    Zizi Jeanmaire obituary
    French ballerina who became an unlikely Hollywood star and was immortalised in the pop song Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/zizi-jeanmaire-obituary-hqjr3lk5k

    1. Good afternoon, Maggie.

      You must have been absent on the day after Mme Jeanmaire’s obituary because she was discussed at some length by a few NoTTLers. Peter Sarstedt’s memorable song was mentioned and a YouTube copy of it was posted on here.

      I remember, at the time of the song being popular, asking who she was and was told that she was a very accomplished dancer, first and foremost, who later went into films.

      1. Hi Grizzly , thanks for the update . I must have missed the discussion.

        I am only remarking on the coincidence after reading yesterday’s Times or wast it Tuesday’s , anyway the conversation that Moh and I had after watching the old TOTP repeat and wondering who she was .. and now this , her obit.

        What a gorgeous name Zizzi is , love it . Perhaps if I had had daughters , a Zizzi would have done very well!

        1. Zizi doesn’t translate very well, Belle, but perhaps no worse than calling a son Willy. I missed the discussion too and will now find it on youtube. Fantastic lyrics that made you shiver a bit.

        2. Names beginning with Z always have a certain je ne sais qoi. I thought Zsa Zsa (as in Gabor) rather fetching, and I doubt if Catherine Zeta Jones would have made it as far as she did as plain Catherine Jones.

        3. I admired Leslie Caron, French dancer spotted by Gene Kelly and starred in An American in Paris, a sumptuous film.

          Edit: The name Zizzi has been appropriated by a pizza chain.

        4. Her real name was Renée Marcelle Jeanmaire, “Zizi” was a unique and very lovely nickname.

          2. Well, it dragged you out of hiding, John boy! Which is the most uniquest thing I’ve done today. 🤣

            [I actually misplaced the ‘very’ (it should have been before the ‘lovely’) but I failed my spellchecking test!] Now remedied.

    2. I read somewhere that not only did she dance the part of Carmen, the ballet, when it was created in 1949 but also reprised it decades later.

    3. Bloody hell! Bring back the Lamassu! Even Alison Lapper or the Big thumb were preferable to that!

      1. I think they should keep doing these random installations. They can make people think. (like what the hell is going on in their fevered brains).

        Eventually it should at the appropriate time go to the greatest Monarch we have ever known.

          1. No, i don’t watch any commercial TV but i will rip it from a torrent site later.

          2. We recorded it then started watching 10 minutes in to fast forward the ads. It was good.

      3. Apparently the artist receives £30,000 if their work is displayed on the plinth. Personally, I’d prefer a 99.

          1. Any NoTTLers willing to join me after dark tonight and pull the “statue” down?

  77. Oh Woe, woe, woe…

    Germany’s Economy Shrinks 34.7% — Worse Than U.S.

    The German economy suffered a record-breaking economic contraction in the second quarter as measures intended to stymie the coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses and required consumers to stay home.

    The economy shrank at an annualized rate of 34.7 percent in the second quarter, worse than the stunning 32.9 percent decline in the U.S.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2020/07/30/germanys-economy-shrinks-34-7-worse-than-u-s/

    1. Blimey, they’ll be needing wheelbarrows to take the Neu-Reichsmarks to the butchers to buy sausage in the wurst case scenario.

    2. “Shattered” not “shuttered”

      And I’m fairly sure that peddy could propose a suitable German compound word for:

      ‘shatuponfromagreatheighttoruintheeconomy’…

        1. North Shields – except there’s no rubbish blowing in the street, and it’s dry.

  78. That’s me for the day. A very agreeable evening – very warm; forced to take our evening glass of medicine outdoors.

    Tonight, we will be mainly watching the Princess Royal (the only sane member of that generation of the Royal Family). If only she was the heir apparent instead of the nutcase Chas….

    On the other hand, if she were, then her feckless daughter (the one who does illegal deals with “businessmen”) – would be in the running to succeed her.

    A demain – one hopes.

        1. She’s spoken for, you old flatterer…

          If you don’t behave, we’ll tell the MR and then you’ll be in trouble. Deep trouble.

      2. I can tell you a few (true) stories about that lady, and her aunt, about their off-grid visits to Chatsworth House.

        2. Anne has a strong ethic of self-discipline in public though, which has earned her many admirers. People can forgive a wild youth, but some rules must be adhered to.

    3. Au contraire, Bill; the Princess Royal’s daughter, Zara Anne Elizabeth Tindall MBE is an equestrian and Olympian – and IMHO – the next best of the bunch …

      1. Maybe – and I agree about the horsey bit – but she and her husband sold themselves to various devils – for lots of dosh.

        Not what they are supposed to do…..

    2. They ignore the billions of other virai, bacteria and muck they live with all the time. In fact, to represent it would fill the entire page.

      1. Of course. Someone told me today that there are 14 strains of Covid-19, which only sounds alarming if you don’t know that there are also dozens of mutations of the coronaviruses that cause flu and the common cold. It’s normal.

  82. Breaking News – A leading Middle Eastern bleach company has invented a cleaning liquid for face coverings.

    They are marketing it as Damascus.

  83. What are the stats on knife carriers in London?

    BBC News – Met Police ‘four times more likely’ to use force on black people

    1. Police officer stabbed during routine stop and search. 30 July 2020.

      A police officer was “seriously injured” when he was stabbed as he carried out a routine stop and search in west London.

      The officer was on duty in the capital where he attempted to search a suspect, who stabbed him in the armpit.

      The assailant ran away, but despite bleeding profusely from his knife wound, the police officer chased his attacker down and helped arrest him.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/30/police-officer-stabbed-routine-stop-search/

      1. Then they go on about police violence against blacks.

        What a way to lose any support that they might have had.

      3. That attack should be treated as “attempted murder”. The arm pit is a dangerous place to be stabbed . I hope the policeman is recovering in hospital.

        1. Whatever yo do don’t say that to a black police person of colour, they probably will not get the joke.

        1. The US figures are, 15% blacks, they commit 50 of murders of which 90% of the victims are, yes, black. Bluddy Load o’ Manure really.

        3. The US figures are, 15% blacks, they commit 50 of murders of which 90% of the victims are, yes, black. Bluddy Load o’ Manure really.

    6. Smithfield and Billingsgate markets are awash with knife-carriers (and expert users).

      Probably 100% in those locations. Be careful if anyone approaches you and whispers in your ear, “‘Ere, wanna buy some skate, chief?”

    7. Would they like more of us whiteys to start carrying knives and dealing drugs, to even up the score?

      1. It would make their job easier i suppose. Can’t be accused of racial profiling then.

  85. 321861+ up ticks,
    breitbart,
    Think Tank Warns BoJo’s Uncapped Migration System Leaves UK Open to 660 Million Migrants,
    bojo / priti success at last, build,build,build, welfare offices.

  86. 321861+ up ticks,
    Wonder what this creature has on members of the law society & the establishment hierarchy,
    breitbart,
    FORMER LABOUR COUNCILLOR AVOIDS JAIL AFTER DOWNLOADING 290,000 INDECENT IMAGES OF CHILDREN

  87. I had a letter from TSB this morning. Thank you for saving with us they said. One of my bonds has matured. I have several options as to what i do with the money. It certainly won’t be to leave it with them as they announced my new interest rate would be 0.01 %.

    NS&I are offering 1.16%. Measly i know but TSB can eff orf.

    1. We received a statement for MILs account this week. I think it was £1.60 interest. Luckily she does not need the interest to live on, it will not pay her drinks bill.

      Up to 2% on regular savings accounts here although the Canadian dollar is losing value againstt other currencies at a growing rate.

      1. I have once spent the night in a cell at the cop shop. They gave me fish & chips. What a nice restaurant i thought. And they forgot to give me the Bill.

        1. I was chucked in a cell at age 14 (in the same nick I worked from years later).

          The local copper had witnessed me being knocked off my bike by a foreign motorist (who got confused about where he wanted to go). I couldn’t stand due to a busted ankle so I was carried between the shoulders of the cop and the foreigner and put in a cell until an ambulance arrived.

          1. When out for a morning walk with my two sisters in Buenos Aires at the age of just 7 I skipped along ahead of them and found myself lost. I burst into tears, but a very kind young lady took me by the hand to a nearby police station where a kindly policeman lifted me up and placed me on a bed in the prisoner’s cell. He then went outside the cell to his packed lunch and returned with a glass of milk, a banana, and a telephone book to see if I could remember the name of the hotel where I was staying with my father and my two sisters. When they finally found my father he came to collect me and played merry hell because of the trouble I had put him to.

          2. When I was nobbut an infant my dad and grandad would frequently warm me that if I misbehaved, “Bobby Book” would come for me!

            Bobby Book? Apparently this mysterious being did exist because I’d overhear dad (when talking adult talk amongst the grown-ups) say that he had met “Bobby Book” whilst walking over the railway bridge on his way home from work. The very name “Bobby Book”, which I found to be a strange name, even as an infant, remained a mystery since I never came across him.

            Until I reached the age of 11, that was. I was sent to enrol as a cadet at the St John’s Ambulance Brigade. One of the first-aid instructors I met introduced himself to all as “Mr Buck”. He was a very large, powerful and imposing individual but very avuncular and a good instructor with his charges. I was in awe of him as a personality. It was months later that I learned he was a local retired police Sergeant whom everyone knew as “Bobby Buck“.

            Although I’d initially misunderstood his name, the man was every bit as big as his legend.

    3. I’ve just had a letter from one of my bond companies confirming that they have closed my policy as requested a couple of weeks ago and sent me a cheque for the sum involved. Except they haven’t and when I contacted them today asking where the cheque is, they say, sorry the investment is suspended. ‘But I have a letter confirming you’ve sent the cheque date 22nd’… Complaints are being raised…

  88. What, exactly, is the “Biden Coalition?” SST. 30 July 2020.

    The Marxist revolutionary anarchist groups; BLM and Antifa. These folks are movements rather than hierarchical countrywide structures. Nevertheless, someone or something is supporting them with large sums of money to fund transportation, living costs and logistical arrangements for the purchase and stockpiling of riot supplies. A tent full of these was captured by the Feds near the Portland court house. These groups do not adhere to either party. They want to destroy the existing social, governmental, and financial system, but who can doubt that they favor the Democrats as the “lesser of two weevils?”

    The view from the United States. Here in the UK we have Hate not Hope as well. It speaks volumes that none of these organisations, either here or in the States, are investigated or in any way hindered by the Security Services. Why do you think that might be?

    https://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/

    1. C’mon Minty. I bet you £100 that {UK) BLM and Antifa are infiltrated by MI5 and have been for some time. The chances of the PTB acting effectively on the intelligence gathered by such covert activities is depressingly thin.

      1. I bet you £100 that {UK) BLM and Antifa are infiltrated created by MI5.

        No need to infiltrate something you already control from the top down.

        The chances of the PTB acting effectively on the intelligence gathered by such covert activities is depressingly thin

        TPTB don’t want to do anything, it’s all working as intended. It’s not a failure of will or courage on their part. Otherwise we might think they were on the side of civilisation but too cowed to act. They’re not, they’re part of the problem.

    2. “Hope Not Hate” is funded by member organisations. The member organisations, are charities and Trade Unions etc and are funded by membership fees, donations and direct grants from the UK Government.
      Is that the answer?

      (In passing, the mobbing of Nigel Farage in Edinburgh by students and riff-raff was funded in the same way.)

      1. HnH is like the Runnymede Trust and host of other astroturf entities. They can barely be said to exist at all, a nameplate on a door, a website, thats about it. They exist so that TPTB can generate the appearance of grassroots support for elite ideas and policies. The MSM dutifully tell us the findings of some dodgy report or dossier output by these entities and the government can then paint itself as bowing to public pressure.

        1. Also to harass the likes of Tommy Robinson and Nigel Farage, without the government being involved.

        2. According to her widower, Jo Cox’s favourite “charitees” were HnH and White Helmets. Perhaps either she was rather naive, or else she was not quite the nice person she was made out to be?

        3. Yo Copyright

          You have a lot of upticks from unfamiliar personages.

          Just sayin’.

    3. Didn’t Trump say he was going to ban antifa? Not that it would bother them, more a badge of honour to many of them.

      As for BLM, who would dare say anything against them? They would receive the full wrath of the woke lot.

  90. Open letter by police widow, Lissie Harper. It is self-explanatory:

    LISSIE HARPER’S BATTLE FOR JUSTICE.

    Dear Boris Johnson, Priti Patel, David Blunkett and any other person in which has the power, moral value and sheer strength of character to right such a despicable wrong for our Country…

    I am sure you are acutely aware of the details of the recent trial for the conviction of my late husband PC Andrew Harper’s killers. Not only was this the second of two trials as the first one eventually had to be cancelled due to Covid-19, but it was also an utter injustice. Not only were the three remorseless men found Not-guilty by a possibly influenced jury of 11, but the way in which the trial was conducted, the suspected interference with the jury and the manner in which the defendants behaved was a total disregard for any legal justice system. Myself among what appears to be almost the whole country are frankly outraged and determined to have this miscarriage of justice overturned.

    After the worst possible year any person can face I am immensely drained and devastated, More to the point I am not even sure if there is realistically anything that can be achieved by this letter. However what I will say is that if there is even the slightest chance that this abominable injustice can be rectified then I will do everything I possibly can to ensure that it is.

    Not only was my husband brutally killed in the most savage and cruel way but he was also an on duty devoted police officer coming to the aid of an innocent member of the public whilst the defendants attempted to commit crimes as they admit without guilt that they do as a lifestyle.

    There are many, many details in which made this recent trial atrociously below board including the fact that one member of the jury was dismissed well into the trial due to being over friendly with the defendants as well as their families, in addition to making inappropriate comments to the defendants in court in which was witnessed by members of the prison service. On top of this following the first trial it was suspected that there could be jury interference and was therefore necessary for the jury to be given special protection by the police after detectives had intel to suggest that family of the defendants were making plans to intimidate them. This alone in our eyes should be enough grounds for a retrial.

    Further to this there had been moments in which the jury seemed to be behaving questionably, for example smiling up at the defendants families, as well as being seen to run out of court very quickly during lunch breaks possibly in order to avoid the swarms of traveller families camped out outside the court.

    Believe me, I could go on and on about all of the aspects of this case that quite frankly have not been considered. It is important to note that the Police and detectives had left no stone unturned in order to provide a wealth of evidence against the defendants to show how culpable they are for the murder of my husband. The prosecution barristers made our case spectacularly and with clarity, dignified in the truth.

    On the other side of things laid barely a defence whatsoever. Even the reconstruction in which to so many showed clearly that at least Henry Long would have known that he was dragging a heavy person behind his car played heavily to a conviction of murder. The jury by all accounts had a very clear journey to follow, a story of indisputable facts and detail was right there in front of them for all to see. These are the reasons that leave the entire country shocked and mystified as to how this could have possibly been a trial of honest and equitable decision.

    The horrific details of the way in which my husband was killed need no repetition, once heard leave a devastating imprint on the minds of anyone who hears them. So for those who have sat day after day seeing footage and photos more horrifying than any they had probably ever had the misfortune of seeing before, for those who have sat whilst coroners divulge the senseless and heartbreaking injuries that Andrew received that night back in August, how is it at all possible to come to any conclusion other than a guilty verdict of murder?

    I am very aware that myself and our families are of course biased, we will always know the truth, and in honesty if this had been a fair trial I may have been more inclined to leave it be and try to accept the verdict that has been reached. However along with the whole world it seems to me, we can all see as plain as day that it clearly has not been a fair trial whatsoever.

    So whomever it may be that I must speak to, whoever the correct person, establishment or government body that has the power to help me to claim justice for an innocent man robbed of his life, to ensure that these three immoral, barbaric and shameless men are made to pay for their crimes, not only for Andrew but also for our whole country. I will keep fighting on behalf of Andrew, the future that was stolen from us and also the victims who find themselves in this unjustly situation in the future.

    After all, who are we if we allow our legal system to fail us? What is this country if it does not provide justice for the innocent? What does it say to the public and the Police officers, old and new if every day they go out and put themselves at risk to detain these criminals just to witness them be treated so exceptionally lightly in the eyes of the law? It says that we are weak, that we will roll over to the despicable thieves and vile miscreants of this world and literally let them get away with murder.

    In total honesty I could write and write until my fingers hurt, I could pour my heart further into this letter, I could scream and shout and stand with fierce determination in the eyes of opposition over this crucial matter. After all what else can I do for my husband now? My heart bleeds for the life that was so selfishly taken from us, but yet in arduous restraint I will not go on any further.

    So I implore you to hear my words, see the facts that are laid out before us, and I ask with no expectations other than hope that you might help me to make these changes be considered, to ensure that Andrew is given the retrial that he unquestionably deserves and to see that the justice system in our country is the solid ethical foundation that it rightly should be. Not the joke that so many of us now view it to be.

    Please feel able to share my letter far and wide to whomever you see to be appropriate and impactful.

    Kindest regards

    Lissie Harper

    1. I hope the judge has the courage to wipe the smirks off their faces with a sentence of life imprisonment with a 30 year minimum.

        1. British justice no longer exists. The trial of these repulsive young men has been a travesty. There must be a retrial with an appropriate outcome.

          And the courts, the police and the politicians are also complicit in the disgraceful way that Tommy Robinson has been driven out of the country by arsonists determined to kill him, his wife and his family.

  94. 321861+ up ticks,

    Could we check your computer contents johnny ?

    Jonathan Pie
    @JonathanPieNews

    Wait, so Tommy Robinson is a refugee now? Also, does he realise Spain is filled with all those foreigner types he’s not too keen on? What next? Katie Hopkins moving to Dubai?

    1. Well I’m taking offence, Sue! In fact I’m so shocked I’m going to shut myself in the coal cellar and self-flagellate!

      Oh bugger! I don’t have a coal cellar! 😡

      1. Hiya! Nope but then how much of what we’re told about it is actually rational or borne out by empirical evidence?

        1. So at a shorty 5′ 3″ I’m safer. Whoops!I’m over 3′ so perhaps I’m not. They can’t even agree on the cruising height of the d*mn virus…

    1. Yes, one knows that one has been shafted – but that’s why one needs to watch one’s Rs. 😱

  100. I am watching a recording of a ‘Touch of Frost’

    In the adverts, are BLM kids with hairlips etc and requests for money to get them fixed

    Why just not send Covid Masks

    Not a very nice post I know, but let them pay for their own treatment, if the BAME’s think BLM

    1. I feel sorry for the kids but they live in countries whose governments have billions of pounds/dollars to sort these things out and my three pounds would only help to keep the charity afloat, not solve anything for the kids.

    2. I agree with you OLT.

      I feel very unhappy when I see those adverts. I did hear that surgeons from all over the world clear off to places like that to select children to perfect their operating skills on .

      BLM crowd show NO philanthropy or altruism .. they just don’t seem to do any thing but connive and con and destroy.

    3. My first post today was similar to what you have posted OLT and i agree.
      I’m sick of our media trying to use the sympathy narrative.
      I remember seeing tv clips of of supposed damage caused by Israeli rockets in response to the islamists who have been trying to wipe them out for years.
      The shots showed damaged buildings with continently arranged undamaged children’s toys spread around the ‘fresh debris’ but the islamic screen directors in charge nearly always forgot to remove the long established grass and other foliage growing out of the rubble.
      Let them all put their own houses in order and that goes for the more than one thousand new arrivals this year.
      Bugger off and get a proper life.
      Last post….i’m getting an early night, my good lady is watching a costume drama which is something i have no interest in. A bit of a link there i think.
      At last after a bit of shoving i have managed to get an appointment at my Doc’s to have a steroid injection in my troublesome knee. I’m hoping to get a few rounds of golf in before the end of the summer.
      Good night all.

    4. I feel the same, OLT. The adverts are full of mixed partnerships and adverts for donations to overseas. The government takes more than enough of my money to waste abroad. I have absolutely no sympathy (most of the deformities are no doubt a result of first cousin marriages).

    5. How much money has been given to charities over how many years, by governments and individuals, and there’s still no clean water or even rudimentary health care? Charities have paid their management too much, used too much in expenses, and local government has stolen the rest. Why continue to fund that? We stopped a while ago.

        1. No……. Muslims!! Morning G! and a beautiful morning it is too – I’m off shortly to have coffee and a bacon sarnie with a friend I haven’t seen since February!

          1. I know!!….I was teasing!

            [Although I am wondering
            who is the more toxic!]

            Enjoy your sandwich and
            more importantly the
            human interaction.

          2. I did! And the cafe was busy and seemed back to normal. The lady who runs it had kept going with take-aways – she also went out on a delivery this morning. She has put a lot of effort into the business so it was good to see things back to normal.

    1. One of the songs I used the ask the rather good little jazz band in a bar called Ned Kelley’s Last Stand (Kowloon side, Hong Kong) was Ice Cream. Somehow, hearing that (although before my time) was just so great in the sprawling Piccadilly Circus that Hong Kong then seemed to be.

  104. Isn’t it about time someone arranged for an accident for Hancock?

    Matt Hancock’s call for virtual GP consultations to replace face-to-face meetings sparks patient backlash
    The Health Secretary said it was wrong to ‘patronise older people’ by suggesting they would be unable to make the shift online

    Matt Hancock is facing a backlash from patient and medical groups after declaring that all consultations should be conducted virtually unless there was a “compelling clinical reason not to”.

    During a speech in London on Thursday, the Health Secretary hailed a new era of “Zoom medicine” in which face-to-face meetings with doctors will be replaced by video link or phone.

    Pointing to the operational changes introduced during the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Hancock said there was a need for “bureaucracy-busting” in the NHS, with virtual consultations freeing up doctors’ time for those most in need.

    He added that while there would always be a system for people who could not “log on”, it would be wrong to “patronise older people by saying they don’t do tech.”

    However, Rachel Power, the chief executive of the Patients Association, claimed that moving consultations online “by default appears to be based on no evidence whatsoever of what works for patients.”

    “Patients have put up with a great deal over recent months to help the NHS cope with an unprecedented emergency – often at considerable cost to their own health and wellbeing. This cannot be allowed to become the new normal,” she continued.

    There are also concerns that a shift to online will disproportionately impact elderly patients with limited access to technology, as well as reducing the chances of spotting the early signs of disease or illness compared with physical consultations.

    Dr Richard Vautrey, chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said that while the union had long argued for greater use of technology, the “suggestion that all appointments going forward will be remote by default must be approached with caution.”

    He added: “Physical appointments will always be a vital part of general practice, and they continue to be necessary for many patients and the management of specific conditions, and we must not lose sight of that.”

    Echoing their concerns, Edel Harris, chief executive of the charity Mencap, said the shift could “seriously exacerbate the health inequalities that already exist for people with a learning disability.”

    “The UK’s 1.5 million people with a learning disability should be offered face-to-face consultations automatically – without needing to ask for them,” she added.

    However, in his address to the Royal College of Physicians, Mr Hancock said there had been dramatic changes to how the NHS works as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and it could not be allowed to “fall back into bad old habits.”

    “The crisis has shown that patients and clinicians alike, not just the young, want to use technology,” he added. “The feedback from this transformation has been hugely positive.

    “So from now on, all consultations should be teleconsultations unless there’s a compelling clinical reason not to. Of course if there is an emergency, the NHS will be waiting and ready to see you in person just as it always has been.

    “But if they are able to, patients should get in contact first via the web or by calling in advance. That way care is easier to manage and the NHS can deliver a much better service. Not only will it make life quicker and easier for patients but free up clinicians to concentrate on what really matters.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/07/30/matt-hancocks-call-virtual-gp-consultations-replace-face-to/

    2. If pharmacists could advise and sell antibiotics, as they do in Spain, much routine workload would be removed. .

    3. I am totally for the system of virtual GP consultations if it:

      is trialled by MPs and their families

      The diagnosis is wrong, you can sue the doctor for £1,000,000,

      When the MPs want their cars etc repaired, the same system applies

      All video consultations are carried our using English as the language…No speekie d iinglish,,, u die

      All eligible people are given ‘puters

      Pikkies are allowed to park in what was the Surgery Health Centre Carparks

      Feel free to add more

      1. It would be a mark of the times if he were forced to resign for saying something truthful, such as the reason for high Covid infection rates in the BAMES.

    4. Do I have to buy a blood pressure machine? How will Dr listen to the gurgles in my lungs, and the beat of my heart? What about blood circulation to my feet, and blood & wee tests? Will he be able to see any effects of stroke through the phone? Surely the time taken questioning about these issues would be longer than a quick glance? What about speculum activity?
      Man’s a buffoon. It will extend time used in consultations, and reduce effectiveness.

  105. 321861+ up ticks,
    Just heard from UKIP under the new leadership and their intentions regarding the future.
    The establishment knew that if the likes of Gerard Batten & Tommy Robinson formed a fighting coalition the close shop parties would have a fight on their hands, Gerard taking on Tommy as a personal assistant was enough to trigger the Nec treachery.
    My personal view now is that Ukip under freddy vachha has joined the
    lab/lib/con coalition party.
    Plain as a pikestaff Gerard Batten stitched up, Richard Braine stitched up,
    Tommy Robinson stitched up self deported putting family first.

    The thing that disgust me is the same rodent infested parties are returned to power.

    Last chance now is crowd fund a new party under one of Gerard Battens ilk
    making sure they carry the scars of proven stitch ups, not rhetorical ones,
    ones that can be plainly seen to have be done.
    Surely the lab/lib/con have proved their worth… lesness they surely are the standard bearers of the submissive pcism & appeasement, treachery campaign
    forever as political coxswains steering the good ship Britannia East.

    1. The new party needs some people with charisma at the top.

      Batten and Farage must patch up their differences and the likes of Owen Paterson and John Redwood need to be involved

      1. The three of them have proven to have feet of clay, and that’s me being polite. I’d not give any of them the time of day, let alone a vote.

      2. I’ve been a member of UKIP, and a candidate at Borough level. I was only a ‘paper candidate’, and I failed miserably, but at least I beat the LibDem. I would have voted for The Brexit Party, but that wasn’t an option. My allegiance shifted to the Tories, since there was no alternative. I voted for Boris as leader, and in the December GE. They’ve just asked me to support their “Unleash Britain Fund”. They’re having a laugh…

      3. 321861+ up ticks,
        Evening R,
        There are a multitude who will never give up their past / present allegiance to”the party” ie lab/lib/con even though those genuine parties the title Labour / Conservative have long gone.
        Batten has retired, Batten ilk would definable NOT
        include ANY governance party hierarchy as for farage you are asking a lot of 30000 plus knife victims.
        Besides his rant he sent a letter to UKIP nec
        castigating Gerard Batten prior to him becoming a leader.
        “nige” went also for an extension
        ( brexit delay) in camera vote,and I will include his on air rant once more, rhetorical knife-work of the highest order regarding the peoples that gave him a platform.
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc7iuUHk3Yk
        You ask a great deal of those to turn the other cheek in regards to the undeserving.

        1. Sorry, Ogga1, but the multitude to which you refer is prolly (©BT) countable on the fingers of one hand. Am I happy about this? No, obviously. Regardless of his commitment to the cause, I would have voted for Nigel’s BXP in December, but that wasn’t an option.

          Boris/the Tory party is a huge disappointment. I voted for the f*cker. In the leadership election and the GE. Turns out he’s a rabid socialist. I have some sympathy, since (a) he’s not a well man, (b) Sir Kneeler Starmer wouldn’t do a better job, and (c) we live in unprecedented times.

          We need a new, right of centre, party. It’s not UKIP, and prolly not BXP. Will it happen? I have my doubts, and have never felt so negative about our prospects before.

          1. About 12% of the people will routinely vote for a genuine conservative party if they think it has a chance of success. The others have swallowed the lies.
            Our best bet is still infiltrating the Cons.
            Most of them will vote for anything in a blue rosette, as evidenced by their lemming-like support for Cammayboros.

          2. 321861+ up ticks,
            Evening GG,
            The multitude I refer to in my post to R
            are the current / past lab/lib/con
            supporter / voters in short they have returned to power politico’s / parties they know to be “wrong uns” putting the party before Country time & time again.
            Nothing wrong with the Brexit group but
            one must remove the rose tinted glasses
            in regarding farage,
            On reflection too many facts against him
            & his actions.
            Not least his views voiced on LBC, as seen in the link, his take on peoples that
            supported him throughout.
            The johnson has always been one of “them” my feelings go back to the mayday election farce, they were ALL in it together, see back post.
            Currently it is NOT UKIP IMO the coalition now comprises of
            lab/lib/con/ukip.

  112. I was treated to tea at the Ritz in 1965.. I was 18 years old .

    I am pretty certain the Tea experience was £5 a head, it was similar I expect, to perhaps being on the Titanic … very grand , loads of atmosphere and rather special.. I seem to remember delicate sandwiches , delicious scones and jam and a wonderful array of delicate cakes …. and the first time I drank Earl Grey tea!

    Have any of you Nottlers any memory of experiences like that in that era..

    Don’t forget it was the mini skirt era .. a different sort of swanky!

    1. We went for a treat for one of my wife’s big birthday’s, our boys treat. It was lovely, later a couple of drinks in a Covent garden pub and onto see the Tina Turner story. A grand day out.

    2. Yes i remember it well. It was very very good. Last time we went not as good but then very litle is.

    3. We were in our teens went to London and saw an early Tom Jones at The Talk of The Town. A great meal and great show with a full orchestra. next night box at Covent Garden for Swan Lake with Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn. After that we left pop music behind I can say it changed our life.

      1. Gosh , yes a different era.. I can remember going to the theatre , can’t remember which ones , because I cleared out all my sentimental pre marriage stuff like theatre tickets and programmes .. Iris Murdoch’s play … A severed Head .. excellent entertainment , The Mouse trap and several others .

        I forget the name of the jazz club in the West end , but I enjoyed that, and went many times .. and then Veeraswamy’s was the curryplace to eat, and how grand was that .

        Edit Ronnie Scott!

        1. Great Club Listening to jazz smoking my Players.”Players please so much.”

        2. I used to enjoy Ronnie Scott’s, when he was still alive. His jokes were wonderful, with a dry, deadpan delivery. Not been there for years.

        4. We frequented Ronnie Scott’s. Memorable performances were Dizzie Gillespie and Georgie Fame.

          We dined at Kettners just around the corner in Soho.

          When I worked for Sir Frederick Gibberd we dined at the German restaurant Schmidt’s, just off Charlotte Street. That area was where all the top architectural practices were located in the seventies.

          Edit: Schmidt’s closed in 1976 and became some Italian restaurant. It had a fabulous delicatessen downstairs (German sausage and preserved meat) and the restaurant was upstairs.

          I cannot for the life of me recall the name of the Italian restaurant near Gibberd’s offices where the Italian waitress was even ruder than the woman with a moustache in Schmidt’s. I was sent out on occasion by one of the partners to fetch smoked salmon sandwiches from that establishment for his lunch.

          Schmidt’s is presently a Roka, expensive Japanese charcoal grill outfit. I prepared the fabrication details for a re-fitted bar for their restaurant in Canary Wharf a few years ago. Three inch thick timbers from some exotic tree with waney edge and requiring tubular steel supports. The company sent over their own carpenter and designer to cut in ebony dovetails as a design feature where the timber planks had split.

        5. Yes, Ronnie Scott’s, wonderful. Among others I saw George Melley and Stan Getz there. Great atmosphere. And for something completely different, the 100 Club around the corner.

        6. Yes, Ronnie Scott’s, wonderful. Among others I saw George Melley and Stan Getz there. Great atmosphere. And for something completely different, the 100 Club around the corner.

    4. The Ritz was designed by the architectural practice Meves and Davis. They also designed the interiors of ocean liners, foremost of which was The Queen Mary.

    5. Yeah Belle, similar at the Dorchester …frightly swanky dahling.
      The trio, a violinist, cellist and pianist played chamber music whilst we enjoyed our cucumber sandwiches….

    6. From 1961 to 1966, I was drinking tea ‘flvoured’ with Bromide.

      We stood up and took it like men

        1. Reminds me of the Porter in the Scottish play when he talks about the four effects of drinking too much alcohol:

          ….. nose-painting, sleep, and
          urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes;
          it provokes the desire, but it takes
          away the performance: therefore, much drink
          may be said to be an equivocator with lechery:
          it makes him, and it mars him; it sets
          him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him,
          and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and
          not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him
          in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him.

          (Or brewer’s droop as it is sometimes called.)

      3. We all thought that they put bromide in our tea at Blundell’s – but the First XV had unadulterated tea to keep them more perky.

    7. Bit late to reply but.

      I did invite my mother to join me for afternoon tea at Claridges. The butler served it in my suite which gave mum a real thrill. That was in the days when a suite for the weekend cost less than a return flight across the Atlantic, so my company coughed up the money.

      I must admit that I was very impressed by the service in the restaurant at Claridges, the servers worked as a team to back each other up.

    8. Yeah Belle, similar at the Dorchester …frightfully swanky dahling.
      The trio, a violinist, cellist and pianist played chamber music whilst we enjoyed our cucumber sandwiches….

      2. I always enjoyed coffee and a bath bun at the Pump Room in Bath while the Pump Room Trio played light classical favourites. I remember a spectacularly pretty waitress dressed in a short black dress with a white lace apron but I was far too shy and maladroit to chat to her.

        1. When we lived in the Cotswolds The Pump Room was a favourite haunt after a day’s shopping in Bath. Beautiful city, architecture and the soft glow of Cotswold stone.

      3. ……….and Betty’s in ‘arrogate,

        unless Frank the Plank was there!!!

    9. Not the Ritz… but I had afternoon tea at the Strand Palace Hotel in 1959. I was nearly 11, and my mother took me out of school in the summer term for a fortnight in London. We did all the sights, and on that afternoon, my aunt and uncle who lived in Ipswich came in on the train and joined us for afternoon tea. When they left, we went to Liverpool Street station to see them off – and as my uncle had worked for one of the railway companies as an engineer, he had a word with the driver and I was invited into the cab. I think it was the same evening we went to see Die Fledermaus at the Colosseum.

      I have great memories of that holday – but I wish I’d kept a diary.

      1. Sounds wonderful , and memories like that are just like yesterday.

        I wish I had kept a diary , but I did keep theatre tickets and brochures and momento’s etc, but they were binned, not by me , before I got married . Because I had been taken to lovely places by some one else!

        1. They say it’s bad for children’s education to take them out on holiday in term-time – then this year they shut the schools for months on end!

          I remember that trip like yesterday and I certainly would have had no particular memories of that period at school. It was June 1959 and the weather was extremely hot. We were pretty exhausted after a day’s signtseeing, and flopped down in the rather shabby hotel in Sussex Gardens – but the Horseguards rode along there in the mornings!

  113. Evening, all. Been a busy day; working in the garden and having the wires fitted to the chimneys to stop the birds getting in (and having the pots re-mortared to stop them getting blown off).

    1. because our government is useless, corrupt etc. etc. etc. And the stupid thing is that WE PAY the b*stards.

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